My Mind Lives In NZ

Go the Silver Ferns!

I am getting up at 3:30am tomorrow morning to watch them have their first test against England.

I am confident they will bring it!

Congratulations David Bain!

Wrongly imprisoned for 13 years.

The NZ Justice system got this one really wrong.

I remember buying both Joe Karam's book "David and Goliath" and it's counter argument in "The Mask of Sanity" by James McNeish. It was so obvious to me then, how could the Police get it so wrong?

So I'm really happy all these years later that something has been done. Joe Karam is one of NZ's greats, full credit.

Food Porn

In honour of the Chris Mack Easter Extravaganza 2007, we postponed Good Friday until this Saturday. I had to get up early to make the dough, but these oishi buns were so worth it. It's my favourite family tradition.

Happy Birthday ME!!!!!!!!

Thank you Matt for making this gorgeous sakura birthday cake! It was a delicious fudgy chocolate. Celebrating with friends with camping, BBQ and party was awesome! 28 is going to rock, definitely.

Camping Chaos!

The thing I love about camping in Ato is the vivid blue skies contrasting with the gorgeous green of the mountains. It is so crisp and clear - a seriously beautiful nature spot. Plus we get to have fun and make as much noise as we like. It was great to see everyone despite the long drives to get there!

Hagi Hanami - Spring Fever

On Monday night we went down to Hagi Joseki (castle ruins) for our annual hanami. The castle was built under Shizuki-yama, and the park around the ruins is planted with many cherry trees. The blossoms were in full bloom (man kai) and overwhelmingly beautiful. Gather some friends, a BBQ, soccer and gorgeous sakura in the moonlight - a night to remember. It was also a great way to welcome Jo's Mum to Hagi - Yokoso! Roasting the marshmallows was my favourite part. We also got to hang out with some fellow flower-gazers from the tarpaulin down, who turned out to be the pottery maker (and friends) from the Aibagawa waterway near our house.

Emotional Day

It's been a sad day today. I went to school and we had the final assembly of the school year. It was to farewell the 12 teachers leaving the school.


It was a bit emotional saying final goodbyes. I made some cookies to say thanks to everyone for their work over the years.

More importantly, today is three years since we lost Daniels's Mum. So all in all feeling a bit tender.

Meanwhile, back in NZ...

I wonder what they are thinking?

Demi: "I could not look cooler in these new pink crocs! My bag totally goes with this outfit, too."

Jodi: "I'm holding on as hard as I can, take the godamn photo Grandma!"

Mummy and Demi.

Jodi-chan.

Kencho 2007

It's our last kencho ever! For us anyway. AJET was handed over, we had our usual afternoon bitch-session, and ZenZen was handed out to an excited throng of groupies. Not to mention the Bobby-initiated lesson plan sharing behind the barrier! Good times, good people.

Selene's Visit

It was great to have Selene back in Hagi for a night - we had two years of Japan/NZ gossip to catch up on.

We even managed to sneak her into work at the Board of Education without being detected!

As you will see below, we didn't get too much face time with Selene as she was far too busy devouring 10 editions of ZenZen magazine and the 2006 Yearbook to bother talking to us!

We're over here Selene!

Bon Voyage, hopefully we'll come and borrow your couch one of these days in London.

xoxo ki o tsukete

Thanks for coming by!

GRADUATION - Omedetou Gozaimashita!

At my base school, Hagi Nishi Chugakko, we farewelled our third graders and wished them well for the future.

It was sad and I felt really proud of them. I had lots of good memories of working with a few of them for the English Speech Comp. They did really well. Congratulations and Good Luck!

I found these red and white celebration buns on my desk after the ceremony.

Spotted at my local supermarket...

Enjoy the perfect match of potato and chocolate!

Honestly, they weren't good. As you sink into the nice milk chocolate, you taste the salt - with a smooth potato finish! I was confused. Ah well, at least the box was in perfect English.