Yea, she's in bed! I haven't gone to bed before 10 o'clock since I was 13 and I had a bedtime. I'm exhausted. We had a Southerly come through last night and I, seriously, haven't been this cold since.....EVER! It poured rain and wind all night and into the early afternoon. I woke up this morning and looked out my window and I just happened to reach out to touch the glass and it was raining, on the INSIDE of my window. The condensation was so bad. This is actually a common occurrence in NZ. The locals call it "Crying Glass."
(My Room. Sweet Room.)
Over the past few months, Jim’s advance swimmers have taken on the adventure of learning water polo. Wednesday night is game night for them in the Lower Hutt region of Wellington. I tagged along, because who are we kidding, Jim was my only ride. We grabbed some dinner (Hell Pizzeria…”When you want pizza, Go to Hell”) and coached the game. It was really entertaining to watch being as these High Schoolers have never even seen water polo three months ago. It was not great polo but at least they were the best swimmers in the pool! Over all it was a lot of fun. The kids found out I was from CA and they bombarded me with questions: “Are you rich?” “What kind of car do you drive?” “What are the boys like?” “Do you have nude beaches?” (I’ll let you figure out which gender asked the last question).
(Jim's Kids. The blond one in the front row, third from the back is Jenny. She's my assistant coach)
Thursday was just coaching at Raumati. We then had a coaches meeting with the president of the club to go over our contracts and to commit to ten swim meets over the next 12 months. Boring. Boring. Boring. Jim and I headed up stairs to the Waterfront for dinner where I had the most delicious creme of mushroom soup! MMM!
(This is my Silver Group. They come on Tuesday and Thursday)
(These are my Elite 3 and Elite 5 groups. There should be about 10 more but it was a Friday. This group comes M-F)
Friday was another day of assessment at WRAC then off to look at a houses with Jim at Pukarua Bay and another in Paraparamu. The first house was on a cliff over looking the Bay and was a great house on a decent size piece of land. It had a great little sun porch but was REALLY windy. It didn’t really fit what Jim was looking for (By the way, I love going with him because I can see what other peoples houses look like and Jim likes taking me because I take pictures to send to his wife and give a woman’s perspective on things). The second house was LITERALLY right on the beach about 5 minutes north of Raumati. It’s a decent sized 3 bedroom/2 bath with a big yard (for his dogs). He instantly fell in love with it and I took a walk on the beach so he could call his wife in private. He made a deal on the house and now it is just a waiting game. I’m really excited for them!
(The beach in front of Jim's *hopeful* house)
(The walk from Jim's *hopeful* house)
Friday night, my flatmate, Frazer invited us to a goodbye BBQ for him at his job at Freyberg pool (he is 20minutes away, transferring over to WRAC). I thought Californians could BBQ. Was I wrong! It was the middle of winter and that could not stop these kiwis. The guys propped open the emergency exit doors and just BBQed in the doorway! Chicken wings, hot dogs, bratwursts, steak, chicken….they did it all. It was a lot of fun and now I can say I have BBQed indoors (now, don’t freak out. The pool is HUGE. Olympic size so we were in NO danger of killing ourselves).
(The indoor BBQ. Haydn in the front, Jim on the left, and Frazer grilling up the food)
Saturday, I taught my first round of classes at WRAC. Even though my boss, Ali, said I did great, I felt really rusty!! As instructors we have no timeline or drills we have to follow. We have goals the kids have to hit but it doesn’t matter what we do to reach them. It is really difficult to be trained in a strict matter to have so much freedom. I spent half the classes trying to think of age/level appropriate drills. It was exhausting. Plus, at Australian Swim School the kids had a step to stand on and kids knew they had to stay on the step or disappear in the abyss (basically 3 feet of water). At WRAC, the kids can walk all over the learner’s pool, so I spent most of the day saying “Luke! I’m over here” or “Matthew, come play with us”. It was super frustrating. I try to teach at kid-level with results in my knees are raw. No fun. It is great to be teaching again.
Saturday night, Jim and I had a committee dinner for the Raumati club. I was dreading it because I assumed it was a chance for me, the new coach, to get drilled with questions. But it was so much fun! The All Blacks (rugby) were playing Australia, so all the men were in the living room watching and all the females were chatting in the sitting room. I was in with the men because I wanted to watch my first game (and honestly, I know more about sports then gossip and knitting). After dinner (and the game), about 20 of us sat in the sitting room laughing, poking fun of each other, and telling stories. It was a good time.
I taught this morning (Sunday) and it was another interesting day. I taught in the morning and was told once again, that I have nothing to worry about, that I’m a great instructor and I don’t need any training. Jim picked me up and drove me around Miramar, where they have the sound and film studios, where King Kong was filmed, and a few places where the cast of Lord of the Rings hung out (Sorry Brian, he didn’t stop to get pictures. But I plan on going back). He then pulled up in front of this grubby warehouse building and we walked in and it was all wool products! Jim knew I wanted to get an actual pair of Uggs while I was here and he took me to the Mother Ship of wool! I got some stylish sand, knee high boots for about $90 American dollars. (Sorry Mom, they didn’t have the Hawaiian print ones. Those are only made in Australia.)
What do you call 5 white guys with a ball? New Zealand basketball. HAHA! Jim forgot that he said he would go to the NZ vs. Venezuela men’s basketball game with some friends so I tagged along and boy…..did it suck!!! They were horrible! However, there was an attendance record set that night for the arena….3,819. It made for a great story though. We were basically killing time till I had to get my….CAR!! Yes, I have a set of wheels. It’s a 90’s silver Subaru. I call it “Putt-Putt” because that’s exactly what it does. It has issues going 65mph, so no one has to worry about me doing mach 3 on the motorway. There is no heating and no radio. But 1) it is free and 2) it will get me from WRAC to Raumati. It does make me miss my truck at home. Awww…..my truck.
(The NBL Game)
I came home exhausted, only to discover Katrin had made an entire Sunday dinner or pot roast, potatoes, carrots, and vegetables. It ended up being Flatmate Night. We watched the season final of CSI and we all headed to bed.
WHEW! That was a lot to catch up. I’m lucky enough to have tomorrow off from WRAC because my first two schools cancelled. SCORE! So I only have Raumati tomorrow. Now if the weather could just get warmer!
(My Room. Sweet Room.)Over the past few months, Jim’s advance swimmers have taken on the adventure of learning water polo. Wednesday night is game night for them in the Lower Hutt region of Wellington. I tagged along, because who are we kidding, Jim was my only ride. We grabbed some dinner (Hell Pizzeria…”When you want pizza, Go to Hell”) and coached the game. It was really entertaining to watch being as these High Schoolers have never even seen water polo three months ago. It was not great polo but at least they were the best swimmers in the pool! Over all it was a lot of fun. The kids found out I was from CA and they bombarded me with questions: “Are you rich?” “What kind of car do you drive?” “What are the boys like?” “Do you have nude beaches?” (I’ll let you figure out which gender asked the last question).
(Jim's Kids. The blond one in the front row, third from the back is Jenny. She's my assistant coach)Thursday was just coaching at Raumati. We then had a coaches meeting with the president of the club to go over our contracts and to commit to ten swim meets over the next 12 months. Boring. Boring. Boring. Jim and I headed up stairs to the Waterfront for dinner where I had the most delicious creme of mushroom soup! MMM!
(This is my Silver Group. They come on Tuesday and Thursday)(These are my Elite 3 and Elite 5 groups. There should be about 10 more but it was a Friday. This group comes M-F)Friday was another day of assessment at WRAC then off to look at a houses with Jim at Pukarua Bay and another in Paraparamu. The first house was on a cliff over looking the Bay and was a great house on a decent size piece of land. It had a great little sun porch but was REALLY windy. It didn’t really fit what Jim was looking for (By the way, I love going with him because I can see what other peoples houses look like and Jim likes taking me because I take pictures to send to his wife and give a woman’s perspective on things). The second house was LITERALLY right on the beach about 5 minutes north of Raumati. It’s a decent sized 3 bedroom/2 bath with a big yard (for his dogs). He instantly fell in love with it and I took a walk on the beach so he could call his wife in private. He made a deal on the house and now it is just a waiting game. I’m really excited for them!
(The beach in front of Jim's *hopeful* house)(The walk from Jim's *hopeful* house)Friday night, my flatmate, Frazer invited us to a goodbye BBQ for him at his job at Freyberg pool (he is 20minutes away, transferring over to WRAC). I thought Californians could BBQ. Was I wrong! It was the middle of winter and that could not stop these kiwis. The guys propped open the emergency exit doors and just BBQed in the doorway! Chicken wings, hot dogs, bratwursts, steak, chicken….they did it all. It was a lot of fun and now I can say I have BBQed indoors (now, don’t freak out. The pool is HUGE. Olympic size so we were in NO danger of killing ourselves).
(The indoor BBQ. Haydn in the front, Jim on the left, and Frazer grilling up the food)Saturday, I taught my first round of classes at WRAC. Even though my boss, Ali, said I did great, I felt really rusty!! As instructors we have no timeline or drills we have to follow. We have goals the kids have to hit but it doesn’t matter what we do to reach them. It is really difficult to be trained in a strict matter to have so much freedom. I spent half the classes trying to think of age/level appropriate drills. It was exhausting. Plus, at Australian Swim School the kids had a step to stand on and kids knew they had to stay on the step or disappear in the abyss (basically 3 feet of water). At WRAC, the kids can walk all over the learner’s pool, so I spent most of the day saying “Luke! I’m over here” or “Matthew, come play with us”. It was super frustrating. I try to teach at kid-level with results in my knees are raw. No fun. It is great to be teaching again.
Saturday night, Jim and I had a committee dinner for the Raumati club. I was dreading it because I assumed it was a chance for me, the new coach, to get drilled with questions. But it was so much fun! The All Blacks (rugby) were playing Australia, so all the men were in the living room watching and all the females were chatting in the sitting room. I was in with the men because I wanted to watch my first game (and honestly, I know more about sports then gossip and knitting). After dinner (and the game), about 20 of us sat in the sitting room laughing, poking fun of each other, and telling stories. It was a good time.
I taught this morning (Sunday) and it was another interesting day. I taught in the morning and was told once again, that I have nothing to worry about, that I’m a great instructor and I don’t need any training. Jim picked me up and drove me around Miramar, where they have the sound and film studios, where King Kong was filmed, and a few places where the cast of Lord of the Rings hung out (Sorry Brian, he didn’t stop to get pictures. But I plan on going back). He then pulled up in front of this grubby warehouse building and we walked in and it was all wool products! Jim knew I wanted to get an actual pair of Uggs while I was here and he took me to the Mother Ship of wool! I got some stylish sand, knee high boots for about $90 American dollars. (Sorry Mom, they didn’t have the Hawaiian print ones. Those are only made in Australia.)
What do you call 5 white guys with a ball? New Zealand basketball. HAHA! Jim forgot that he said he would go to the NZ vs. Venezuela men’s basketball game with some friends so I tagged along and boy…..did it suck!!! They were horrible! However, there was an attendance record set that night for the arena….3,819. It made for a great story though. We were basically killing time till I had to get my….CAR!! Yes, I have a set of wheels. It’s a 90’s silver Subaru. I call it “Putt-Putt” because that’s exactly what it does. It has issues going 65mph, so no one has to worry about me doing mach 3 on the motorway. There is no heating and no radio. But 1) it is free and 2) it will get me from WRAC to Raumati. It does make me miss my truck at home. Awww…..my truck.
(The NBL Game)
I came home exhausted, only to discover Katrin had made an entire Sunday dinner or pot roast, potatoes, carrots, and vegetables. It ended up being Flatmate Night. We watched the season final of CSI and we all headed to bed.
WHEW! That was a lot to catch up. I’m lucky enough to have tomorrow off from WRAC because my first two schools cancelled. SCORE! So I only have Raumati tomorrow. Now if the weather could just get warmer!
2 comments:
"I can say I have BBQed indoors (now, don’t freak out. The pool is HUGE..."
Hmmm. I'm still trying to understand why the pool being "HUGE" should relieve any concerns we might have had about barbecuing indoors.
Perhaps nearby large pools prevent death by smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning? ;)
well, I get it, Case...the exit by which they BBQ'd, is on one wall of the pool area. its not enclosed at all, other than, the pool area itself, which you said is massive... btw....Sea Bass is the Subaru master....
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