Brief catch up of the past..... and What's on the Horizon

How time flies, has it really been nearly 2 years since I posted on this? Oh well, life goes on. I have been busy, that is for sure. Just to recap some of the things that have happened over those months.....

I have had full-time work as a teacher for 1.5 years now in New Zealand and only have 6 months until I am a 'fully registered teacher.' YES!!! (The first 6 months of full-time employment was a nightmare though... I took a job in my favourite school where a teacher was arrested for molesting boys. This teacher was such a manipulative phony; I idolized him thinking that he was amazing, but that was what he wanted everyone to think to hide what was actually happening. Looking back, I took the job because I was desperate for full-time employment but now, I know that I will never take a job that stressful again. EVER.)

Dave and I were married on July 7th, 2012 in Zion, Illinois. Life is amazing when you marry your best friend. We do everything together including learning to surf, which is our new hobby since April of this year. Gardening is on hold because we will be gone for 5 weeks of the summer, and are looking to buy a property so we are not investing ourselves here as much, knowing that we will probably be moving within a year, hopefully.

Things to look forward to:
     *  Visiting family in the States in 4 weeks!!!
     *  Hopefully getting my first 1 year contract teaching in New Zealand!!!
     *  Buying a property!!!
     *  Building a house!!!

All of these things are super exciting. We are really looking forward to visiting our family and friends so soon. First, from December 15th-20th we will be in California catching up with family and friends there. Then we're off to freezing cold Illinois to celebrate Christmas, New Years and to be there for the birth of our niece, Pat and Lupe's 2nd child somewhere around the 1st week of January. From January 17th-20th we will have another couple days in California, then we fly back here to New Zealand, but WITH A FRIEND- Liz Gresey!!!! So excited to have one of my besties come here for a visit. :) Too bad I have to get back to work almost as soon as we get back, but it will be nice to have a few days hitting the beaches and relaxing together.

 I just applied for my first 1 year contract that I think I will actually get.... FINGERS CROSSED!!! I have bounced from teaching 7th & 8th grade for 6months, then Kindergarten for 6 months, and now I'm teaching High School age kids. What a whirlwind!!! The position I've applied for is to teach Graphics, (Design) which I'm already teaching at the high school and they made the advertisement suited to my strengths, (Art included in the job description), so I'm presuming I will get the job, especially since I'm already doing it. We shall see.

We have been looking at buying places over the past couple years, both in the States so we can be closer to family and here in New Zealand where we have a great lifestyle. After much thought, we have decided that we would like to live here vs. the States. Bummer we won't get to see our family and friends there as much as we'd like, but you will just have to come visit!!! ;) Anyhow, there is a property a 5 minute walk from where we live that we have fallen in love with. It is just what we want; 4.125 acres, lots of trees, (oak, redwood, eucalyptus, elders, a willow and a puriri), a marsh at the back of the land, which we plan on digging out to have as more of a natural pond. The best part, and the only reason we are able to buy the land is because the land owner is financing us, meaning that we have eliminated the bank and will be paying him directly, kind of like a 'rent to own' situation. This is especially great because here in New Zealand, you would need a 50% deposit to buy bare land that does not have a house on it, which we do not have. The land owner is also very cool, and putting the marsh into a 'covenance' for up to 100 years, so no one can touch it but us, (this is since some of the marsh will be outside our boundary line and we don't want someone developing that land someday). Anyhow, it is all coming together. We have a lawyer who has drawn up a legal agreement that we plan on signing next week. Our planner is friends with the Mayor and everyone in the offices that pass subdivisions, so it seems like everything will go through by April. Fingers crossed again!!!

Then we come to building a house.... we have been talking of building a sustainable house which will be much cheaper to run once it is built vs. a house built with more traditional materials. We've read about mud brick/ adobe houses, rammed earth and most recently straw bale houses. This is our most favourite, as it sounds very warm once it is established, has gorgeous stucco walls and window seats in each window. I've posted pics of a dream straw bale house we have found below. I've also emailed the building architect asking what he would charge to share his building plans with us, and emailed the straw bale building engineer in our area. Once we've moved over there and need power, we do not plan on being on the grid because getting power set up at this property will cost $17,000-$20,000. We can have a mean solar set-up for that, and never have a power bill!!!

So, all in all things are really good here. Dave's business is doing very well- he's selling a guitar on Trade me at the moment for $3,800 and in the process of building one to bring with to the States to show off at Christmas time. His craftsmanship has become flawless and has a few regular customers who are collectors. He exemplifies the word dedication and I am very proud of him.

That's all for now. When we get building plans going, maybe some of you can come help us build our dream house!!!

Love,
 Jen

 

Looking back....and forward

I started this blog as a way for me to keep family and friends, (over 8,000 miles away) up to date on what I (and Dave), are up to. After a while, I felt bored with the daily writing and not having internet access readily available at all times for posting and adding pictures. That being said, I want to continue writing and posting about things that interest me- art, food and gardening, (and of course Dave and teaching).

I am looking forward to school holiday coming up in 2 weeks, which will give me 6 weeks off!!! More time for blogging??? We shall see. I am also looking forward to finding my camera, which is lost at the moment. This will allow me to get all the photos I want.

Another cold got me this week, which is annoying since I never get sick. On the bright side, I have already called my boss for work tomorrow telling them I am sick. It has been raining for 12 hours straight, so it may flood down at school in Mitimiti which will make my calling in not matter anyhow. Either way, I will be playing hookie and going to my other job at Oturu School, to get caught up on all my projects before prize-giving this Thursday.

Dave is building screens to cover the windows in our little house and I have been reading food blogs most of the day. Lazy, rainy Sunday.

Garden update!

Our gardens are growing so well!!! (I have misplaced my camera so when i find it, i will post photos). :)

Over the past 6 weeks, Dave and I have planted the following in our garden:

100 tomatoes: green zebra, tigerella, cherokee purple and sungold
60+ peppers: jalapeno, ancho and california wonder (our marconi red didn't sprout).
30+ cucumbers: pickling & green dragon
20 eggplants- tokyo black
100 squash: pumpkins- musquee de provence, spaghetti, zucchini, yellow crookneck
100+ garlic plants (actually, we planted these almost 6 months ago and they are almost ready for harvest).
200+ Genovese Giant Basil
30 Swiss chard (called silver beet here)
200+ bean plants: dwarf fire tongue, cannelini white & purple teepee
4 melons- jenny lind
heaps of leeks, spring onioins, nasturtiums and cilantro.

We also have containers with chives, rosemary, sage, thyme, a lime tree, rhubarb and lemon grass.

My goal for this weekend is to spray round up around the concrete pad that our batch and caravan are on, which hopefully will kill the kikuyu grass. Then, I want to pull out the spring flowers in the front and fill it with all the flowers/ perennials i started from seed, (borage, nepeta, echinacea, rudbekia, Snapdragons, celosia, sunflowers, eryngium, and i think i'm forgetting some).

I have got another cold from the kids at school, but oh well. I'm happy cause i weighed myself and i've lost 15 pounds since i visited the states in August!!! woo-hoooo!!!! A bit more to go and I will have dropped all the weight I put on when I quit smoking. :)

I also have been planning ahead a bit so we can store all our produce we are growing. We can put our sign out in front of the driveway and people can buy stuff, but I also just got some 1L & 1.5L canning jars to keep our pickles and tomatoes in. Yeah!!!

not yet gone.... catchup over the past 5 months

well! it has been nearly 5 months of no blogging. WHOOPS!!! A lot has happened in that time.

Our gardens are in full-throttle with 100+ tomato and bean plants, 200 basil plants 50 peppers, 10 eggplants, 30 cucumbers, dill, onion, garlic, swiss-chard, nearly 100 lettuce plants and the list goes on. SOME ONE BETTER LEARN THE ART OF CANNING!!! And that someone is me.

We also have 5 hens, 1 rooster and 8 chicks at the moment. We originally started with 2 hens, then a friend brought over 1 rooster & 1 hen, then another friend brought over 2 hens, then we ate a rooster cause he was too damn loud. (Dave dealt with him, cleaned him up and I cooked him into a beautiful soup). Voila! Another hen has gone 'clucky,' (where they start sitting on the eggs to hatch them), so we could have another round of chicks in 3 weeks time. We shall see. The chicks are so damn cute!!! I'll take some photos and get them on here soon enough.

I am still working at Mitimiti, (the school that is an hour away), which turned into a mess. The original Principal went on 'stress-leave' because his son had a brain tumor.... 2nd Principal came in and his wife ran off with another man to Australia. There is no 3rd Principal, so that's a bit of a pickle. I am in the senior classroom (5th-8th grade), 2 days per week and the kids are pretty hostile. They are upset that they have had so many different teachers this year and although the school had a fund-raiser which brought $10,000 to the school I am not able to purchase some materials like paper and oil pastel for the kids to have some fun during the last 3 weeks of school. I in turn, am a bit over it, but continue to have a smile on my face at work and deal with it.

My other job is amazing. I'm at Oturu school, which is an environmental school focused on hands-on learning. They make their own olive oil, beauty products and food from their gardens. I am there 3 days per week working in the gardens with the kids, weeding, planting, organizing and making signs and artwork when it rains. I love it there and have applied for a full-time position in the 1st and 2nd grade classroom for next year. I should know soon if I am to interview for the position. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Dave and I are great! Caught a bit of a cold last week, but all is well. Dave is putting finish on a beautiful guitar he is building for a custom order, as well as starting a ukulele to sell to a woman I work with. I am very proud of him and happy that his business is slowly taking off. I admire him for his hard-work, dedication and having the courage to know what he wants in his life and push for it. Most people in this world are too scared to go after what they want and end up working boring jobs that bring no reward aside from a paycheck. I am happy living frugally, providing most of our own food and being rich in more ways than money can provide. Paying off my student loans still and will be for the next couple years. That's life for now.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

30th June 2011

I’m sitting in bed, tipsy from wine and full from a lovely meal Tasha cooked tonight. Tasha is the teacher here in the Kindergarten-4th grade classroom here in Mitimiti, and she cooked a lovely meal of chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes, a veggie medly and some hard boiled eggs. Yum and hearty! We had a nice time catching up about life and the what not while drinking wine….. where we went to school, how we grew up, partners, etc. I had a great time!

I also had a great day at school today. ERO came to visit on Monday and Tuesday this week, so it was nice to come in and not have to be on my tippy toes. (ERO are the people who conduct school inspections here. They look through your plans, ask questions to you and the students and give feedback in the end). Today, I taught the students how to make exquisite corpses and they turned out quite nice! ☺ Then, we worked on our artwork we had started on Monday. We had begun drawing birds and sea life that are Native here, and they really are looking beautiful!!! ☺ I will post pics soon.

After art, we played games all afternoon. Dodgeball, statues and more dodgeball! The kids were into it and I needed a break, so it was totally awesome!!!
Now, I’m sleepy and wined. Gnite.

21st June, 2011

Just re-reading my entry from yesterday while eating dinner here in Mitimiti. MMMMMMMMmmmm….. I had leftovers from last night, which consisted of rice, swiss chard, a baby butternut squash, onions and garlic. Not as much food as I may usually eat, but I have to ration because I was asked to work an extra day, but I only brought enough food for one night. Either way, stretching it wasn’t too bad and I will have a paid day tomorrow to work in the resource room and get it organized. Sweet as.

ERO is coming to visit the school this coming week. ERO is the group that conducts school inspections. Our school is quite a mess and I’m sure everyone is on edge about their visit. The classroom I’m teaching in was the library, the original classroom was condemned in the first term of school and the class had to relocate. Hence the reason I have to organize all library materials in the resource room tomorrow. I hope their visit goes smoothly and they don’t ask me too many questions. (They will ask what you are teaching, how you are implementing the intended learning outcome and how that is shown in both you planning/ curriculum and in the students work. Yikes).

Anywho…. That’s all I got really. I wish I had some cheese and crackers to eat. Ha! Oh well. G-nite!


30th June 2011

20th June, 2011

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last entry? Jeez. It reminds me of when I was growing up and I would try to keep a diary. I would write something in it involving my friends and what boy I had a crush on, and then POOF! 6 months later or sometimes even a year later, I would open that diary and start writing again, having different friends or different crushes and say that I promised to write everyday, or week. Oh well, at least I’m writing when I can.

Lately, I have been writing mostly when I stay over at the school house after teaching in Mitimiti. I’m not really sure why I didn’t write 2 weeks ago when I was here, but last week I came down with the stomach flu while I was here and that’s why I didn’t write then. It was brutal!!! I have not had a flu for years, and this one kicked my butt and made my stomach shrink. I’ve been trying to keep it that way, so I am eating less and loosing weight. Woo-hoo!

Anywho, things are going well overall. I’ve been having some major growing pains lately, but all to be expected. I do not have any friends out here and it makes me feel a strong anti-social side in me that has been growing in recent years. I miss having my close friends and family nearby. That being said, on a super-positive note, I paid off one of my small student loans for $1,550 a couple weeks ago. Also I made a $1,700 payment on my student loan today and anticipate making another $2,000 payment when I get paid next week. ***(Since leaving Chicago, I have paid off $8,000 in credit card debt, $27,000 in student loans, from working hard, selling everything I own and collecting some inheritance from my Mother’s parents passing). I need to keep things in perspective. I have a rich life right now, living and doing what many people often do not have the chance to experience in their lifetime; teaching in a beautiful country-side, living in a one-room cabin and caravan with no lighting, cooking on a 2 burner gas-cooker, gardening and growing most of our food. Life is good, I just need to fight my anti-social behavior right now and give our friend Jen a call. She is the sweet eccentric artist we know. I need to push my creative side right now, I’m dying to have a creative release!!!

GOOD NEWS: Just before I came into the house, Doug, (the Principal), asked what my plans were for next term. I told him that I didn’t have any other solid work lined up and I would love to stay, if that was on the table. Doug told me that he would mention to the school board that he would like me to stay for next term and potentially into the 4th term. Wooo-HOOOO!!!! Now, this doesn’t mean I will get the job for sure but it is a step in the right direction!!!

Also, Dave has been commissioned to build 1 ukelele and is building the most beautiful guitar! (He will build 2 ukes at once because there is another woman who is potentially interested). Either way, it is great that he has another sale! Also his guitar that he is working on is so beautiful! It is black walnut, totara, (I think), and some other woods I cannot remember. Either way, he has cut these beautiful inlays in the guitar around the sound hole, the bottom, back and sides which look absolutely amazing!!! Also, the contrast between the walnut (dark brownish- purple) and the totara (almost yellow) are insane! I absolutely love it!!!

Abrupt, sorry, but its 730 and I’m off to re