January 25, 2011

Woke up at 7am. Dave went down to fix the pump while I made him lunch; 2 Zucchini fritter sandwiches with hot peppers, onion, cheese and a bit of salami, also some zucchini soup. Yes, we have TONS of zucchini to eat. I watered the garden and the seedlings and am hoping to go down to Ahipara Elementary to seek some substitute teaching work, (they call it relief work here). I have been told that relief teachers are paid very well and if you work 3 days a week, you will be getting paid more than a full-time teacher. There also is Pukepoto School nearby and Kaitaia College, (which is what High School is called out here). I really hope to get some work at one of those schools soon. $200 dollars per day. Sweet!!! (In NZ, they would say 'sweet as,' instead of sweet. Its a short way of saying the sweetest thing ever. Funny, huh? They also would say, 'hot as,' etc. Put 'as' after every word you really mean.)

Stopped by the wood shop with Kathy around Noon to get a message to Dave and on the way back stopped by the Elementary School, but the principal was not there. We found out from one of the maintenance men that the Principal should be in next week, but early in the morning, around 8am. School starts on February 3rd, so I hope they give me a call soon. :)

I took a cat nap in the afternoon with Jazzy, one of the many black and white cats on the property. Nothing really exciting happened this afternoon. Fixed the pump, which worked for 5 minutes, filled the water bottles, made some iced tea and picked a lemon to go with it. Swept the room where our refrigerator and recycling is as well as under the caravan.
Dave got home around 6 o’clock and we began working on finishing the trellis for our little pickle cucumbers. We cut chicken wire Dave found and attached 2 pieces across the long sides of the bed, then placed the cucumbers on the wire. They look very happy. Afterward, Dave watered the garden while I sprayed the tomatoes with a pyrethrin spray to try getting the bastard shield bugs off the tomatoes. Took a shower outside- Dave in the hose, (which is freezing), and I with the bag shower, which was warmer. Leftovers for dinner- some of the delicious food Panyaranka made and some of our tomato salad and kale. In bed early, per usual, around 10pm, but stayed up giggling for a while until we fell asleep. (There was one story in particular that Dave thought was hilarious. I told him how I was talking with Megan yesterday and she told me she had to go to work for a few hours at the school because they were having a math advisor come to speak with them. But what I heard was a ‘meth survivor.’ Which made sense in my mind at the time because I was thinking that this person could talk to the staff and potentially the students later to give them a real life experience of what happens. Meth is big out here, but people call it P. Both Bryan and Megan were laughing quite hard when Bryan explained the misunderstanding, and Dave was laughing super hard before bed. :)

Here's Jazzy resting in the caravan. :)