Another one bites the dust

Hey everyone,
Well in two days time we will have been over here a whole year! In many ways I can't believe it has been a whole year already, but in others I really feel that a long period has past! Only two weeks now until we head home to renew our visas - I can't wait!

Thinking about it today, we have done a lot in just a year, however in many ways we have just scratched the surface. I remember thinking as we left NZ I wonder how much I will change after a year or so overseas. I think I have definitely changed, my views on the world, being a kiwi etc have all become clearer, and I feel that I understand a whole lot more now. I know that probably sounds cheesy, and it is pretty hard to explain. As a kiwi I have always been extremely patriotic, but when you are overseas this lifts to a whole new level. But in saying this, you also learn things about what it means to be a kiwi - ie we are extremely laid back, we are multi-skilled, hardworking and we are very good at thinking outside of the square, these are a few traits that come to mind - oh and being friendly!! However there are also some less attractive traits that we possess ie being narrow minded (this includes those of you that haven't been outside of NZ and OZ or you north islanders that haven't even been to the Sth Is!) and not fighting for good causes (ie just letting an issue go instead of fighting for it).

It has also been cool to see how other countrys do things ie Dutch cycling everywhere, public transport, the huge push for sustainable development here in the UK etc.

In many ways it makes me want to make NZ better - I want to invest what I have learnt back into NZ (however I am now starting to understand why Kiwis are immigrating to OZ - because my attitude has previously been - Australia - Nah, its full of Australians!!) Haha.
But seriously a huge issue for NZ at the moment is that people in my age group just aren't returning to NZ because there aren't enough opportunities or well paying jobs for us. I believe we should all do an OE, don't get me wrong, but there should also be something more than family enticing us home again afterwards. I say this, however knowing that I will definitely come home to NZ when I have cured myself of this travelling bug, but there are a lot of kiwis my age that don't feel the same about coming home to NZ. I read an article recently that said Australians get paid 50% than Kiwis! Go figure!

I think I am yet to encounter a second stage of learning/changing, and that will be coming home to visit, for example you idealise NZ in your head as being this wonderful paradise - my brother reckons when he went to Japan, the whole year he said things like "well in NZ that would never happen, things are so much better at home" etc etc, but when he got in to Auckland airport he got chosen at random by customs to have his luggage searched, and he was like "Grrr maybe annoying stuff does happen in NZ"
So it will be interesting to see how my impressions of home have changed/been altered.

Anyway thats enough of a rant and rave about that! Bev and I have made a mega list of all the things we want to do whilst home. Calling into a service station for a pie after being picked up from the airport will be one of the first things haha! Oh and going to the Mt, I am so hanging out for the beach - I don't care that it won't be summer - I just want to spend some time at the beach! Aw and hanging out with my Kitty I so can't wait to see my little ball of fluff!

Last weekend we went camping in the New Forest which was really cool - except for the shite weather! It poured with rain on our train journey to Brockenhurst, and then when we arrived at the campsite, there were giant puddles on all of the sites!(although this served us well as we could see where all the low lying areas and dips were because of the giant puddles that had formed there). So we had to pick very carefully where we were going to pitch our tents (Dee and Mark came with us). The New Forest has semi wild ponies running around freely which is really cool, they just randomly walk through the camping ground, the small village high street, everywhere! We awoke both mornings with a start, to a horse neighing very nearby! The horses are owned by commoners (haha that's the word the taxi driver used! Only in the UK!), and basically they just round the horses up once a year to count the number of foals that have been born, and check their health. So people basically own these animals to set them free - kind of an odd concept, but quite nice at the same time.

After arriving Friday night, we went out for dinner at a very cute pub. On the Saturday morning it was still raining, so we walked into town, and found a nice cafe to hang out and play cards in until the rain cleared. We then went for an extremely enjoyable 15km walk through the New Forest, seeing plenty of horses, wild deer etc on our way - very nice and relaxing.
Then on Sunday we just packed up and headed back to London - all in all a very nice weekend away, and we were very lucky that our tents proved to be very waterproof given the weather! The only soggy part of our weekend was us, as we kept getting wet when we left the shelter of our tents! So much for camping in an English summer! I had to laugh though, because all of the girls at the camping ground had Wellies (gumboots for us Kiwis) except they weren't your standard red bands, they were pink with little love hearts and butterflies and girly things like that on them! Haha it would be funny to buy a pair and come home and get a job at LIC or AgResearch and turn up to a farm trial wearing some British wellies! I don't even think the animals would take me seriously! :o)

On Wednesday night we went and saw the Feelers - it was really cool, and I even got to shake James' hand! The sad thing is James looks like he's aged 20 years, since putting on weight and now that he is balding - he made us feel really old! The worst bit was we decided to catch the night bus home (tubes stop running at 12.30am) but we just missed the bus we needed and the next one wasn't for another 45min so we got another random bus, and then walked some of the way, so it took us ages to get home - on a school night! The trials and tribulations of using public transport!

This weekend is just a quiet one, this morning I watched the All Blacks collect the Tri Nations title (GO AB's!!) - I was standing next to these Brits who came in somewhere around half time, and they were egging on OZ cos most of us at the pub were Kiwi, just to wind us up(that's what they said - kinda like a soliloquy in a play). Which reminded me of that horrid World cup quarter finals match when the Brits were all supporting France, because they had all placed bets on France winning! Grr that made me so mad esp since the Brits can't stand the French! So when we won today (I was trying to think of something clever to say to them - like "do you even know what a try is, and no I don't mean a drop kick", but I just said "and that is how it's done!" and then left - haha they looked a bit taken back by that - either that or they didn't understand a word I said haha, wouldn't surprise me!).

We so often get mistaken for Aussies over here, it drives me insane! I helped out this women at the tube station the other day (I get so frustrated with how unhelpful everyone is here, so I always make a point of helping someone if I see it's something I can easily help with ie which tube line to take - cos it would have been so helpful if someone had done that for me when I was a newbie, and I am proud to be a friendly Kiwi - so if they go away thinking wow Kiwi's are nice, I have done something good for the world, anyway I helped this lady the other day, and afterwards I thought uh oh, that lady was probably thinking dam those Aussies are helpful haha! But after thinking that, I thought this could probably go the other way too, and if I am rude to someone, they will probably think "those aussies are so rude!" :o)

Bev is currently off playing cricket somewhere and I am starting to contemplate packing up all of our stuff (but as you can see I found a valid distraction).

So that is about all of our news for now! We have 8 more days of work to get through and then a bit of packing and then home! YAY!
See you soon!

Lots of Love
Jam