Christmas Eve in Paradise

So Auckland may have put a poor showing together for my first week in NZ - rain, blustery winds and struggling to get above 16 degrees, however it sure knows how to pull it all together when it counts. I’ve just got back from talking Oscar (the dog) for a walk along the beach, and it can’t have been to far off paradise. The sun was just starting to set and sparkle on the water, Christmas carols could be faintly heard from the nearby pubs, there was the smell of fish and chips in the air, and families playing soccer in the sand. A typical kiwi Christmas! It was a well-needed relief.

My week in NZ so far has had some highs and lows. It has been great catching up with the whanau – particularly the nieces (as cute as ever), and getting to celebrate Dad’s 60th. I’ve also had some time with a lot of other friends, but all of that has been overshadowed in the last couple of days with the deterioration of my grandfather. The last two days have been a bit of a bedside vigil, but the old soldier isn’t giving up yet. Perhaps he wants to be around to see one more Christmas. So, it is on with the Christmas face and trying to keep the sad side of life upsetting the joy of Christmas, particularly for the littlies.

Anyway…this wasn’t supposed to be a downer note, but a reflection on some of the simpler joys of Christmas, and life in Aotearoa.

Merry Christmas everyone!

At the Airport - again!

For the seventh time in the last six weeks I find myself sitting at Starbucks at KLIA, killing time before boarding my flight. I believe that I may now be officially in the jaded traveller bracket. It isn't that I don't love travelling - and I am definitely looking forward to the three weeks in NZ that I am currently waiting to start. It is simply that any of the minor joys and excitements about the actual travel, has disappeared. Gone are the days of starting to pack a week or more in advance, writing lists so things aren't forgotten, and carefully planning a travel wardrobe (so important to look sophisticated, yet be comfortable). Today I was at work until 3pm, came home and was packed and ready to be picked up by the taxi an hour later. Having said that I have realised that I left a cute top behind I was going to bring - but where as that would once have concerned me, I now know I will survive. I guess with the travelling I do it isn't surprising that this has happened - but I do kinda miss a bit of that thrill. Not that I would exchange all my travelling for that. After all in the last year (yes - I am bragging now!) I have been to ten different countries (Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, NZ, Philippines, Singapore, America, Canada, Myanmar, and Hong Kong if you were curious).
The semester at school finished today, and on reflection I am bloody grateful! It has to be one of the most stressful and downright challenging six months of my professional life. Yet I have survived! I am stronger! And I think finally I may have been able to get my team members (the source of a lot of my frustration) to actually understand what their job is - and more importantly what it isn't. I'm unsure whether part of this feeling is due to the fact that for the first time in my adult life I am doing the same job for two years in a row. I am hoping that having pushed through I will start to enjoy the 'settled-ness' next semester. At least for the next 18 months when it will be time to move on again.
Speaking of moving on - it is time to move to the gate. Here's hoping that there aren't too many children making their way to NZ tonight!

Christmas at the Rise

I have just come back from one of those occasions we are sometimes lucky enough to attend that remind us that we have family about, even when we are a long way away from our own. 'Christmas at the Rise' has become a bit of an ISKL tradition. A big weekend before the Christmas vacation party, for the children of course! Unlike those living in their home countries expat kids don't necessarily get to sit on Santa's knee and get a gift - this is the chance for it to happen.
So on a monsoony Sunday afternoon about 50 ISKL faculty kids, their parents and the eternal kids like myself all got together for a pot luck turkey dinner around the pool. The afternoon was organised madness with the older kids running around in the rain playing soccer, and the younger ones simply running around our feet. All of course waiting for the arrival of Santa. Santa finally arrives with parcels and excitement - and quickly nabs a beer, much to the pride of one Aussie father who's Santa's helper daughter is able to put the stubbie into a cooler wrap when others can't. What follows is not that different than it would be at home - laughter, jokes, young kids screaming when they sit on Santa's lap, wolf whistles when mum sits on Santa's lap with them. It was however just the reminder that I do have a big family of people here that I sometimes tend to take for granted.
Now, I'm back at home, cursing the humidity in the air that has caused my pavola made for tomorrow to turn into a sticky goop of marshmallow. At least most people don't know what it is supposed to be like anyway!

Monkey Madness

I have just finished having one of the more enlightening conversations of my week while lying on my couch not uttering a word. Bob, as I think of him, the rather large macaque monkey that roams the balconies of Menara Indah (my apartment block - literally beautiful place, but a little hopeful in reality) decided to take some interest in me. I don't normally encourage large macaque monkeys to take too much interest, due in large to the fact that they can be quite temperamental, have sharp teeth and carry all sorts of diseases like rabies. However, as I was safely shut behind glass I decided to play along. What followed was an entertaining, on both sides I think, exchange of mimicry and amusement. I don't actually know who was more easily entertained, myself or Bob. But I was really entertained by just how similar they are to us, or should that be how similar we are to them?
In all serious though it was one of those little reminders about how much I do like living in somewhere as 'exotic' as Malaysia. It was probably a timely reminder as I had spent the last two hours in a frustrating mission to the bank to collect my credit card - don't even get me started on why they can't just send it, followed by being stuck in a horrendous traffic jam caused by two bus drivers arguing over who had clipped the other whilst blocking three lanes of a busy thoroughfare. Malaysia at its finest! But then in NZ, or many other places for that fact I wouldn't have the opportunity for a Friday night conversation with Bob. I guess it is always a little give and take.
Only a week left till Christmas vacation! Not that I'm counting down.