Dutch Windmill

Shortly after getting my car, I decided to break it in with a weekend road trip to Wellington. Things had been crazy busy schedule-wise with Phantom running for 4 weeks and I was needing a couple of days to just relax and recharge. I decided that I would do better at actually relaxing if I took a couple days and went somewhere. So I got a long weekend off work, and the day after the last phantom show, headed South. Driving North takes a bit of mental preparation because you have to tackle first the mountain and then the gorge. The recommended speed limit for most of it is 15-35 kph, not very fast :) Driving South however is quite the opposite. It is most flat, ad surprisingly straight, as New Zealand roads go. You get to drive through lots of nice farmland and cozy little towns.

The time spent in Wellington was lovely. I even got lucky and the rain held off until I left. Windy is known as the windy city (on bad days it is apparently far worse than Taranaki) but I was lucky in that respect as well). I spent two days exploring bookstores, art galleries, and coffee shops :)
On the drive home, when cruising through one of the cute little towns along the way, I saw a sign for a Dutch windmill. Since it was time for a break from the car anyway I thought I'd check it out. In addition to the Windmill, there were signs and photos in "downtown" which was really just Main Street, showing just how little it has changed in the last 100 years. It was not anywhere that I could see myself wanting to live, but it was a cute place to stop for a coffee and stretch of the legs.

Still in use today for making flour

View of downtown/Main St from the top of the Windmill

The last stop I made for a break from the car (it's about a 4-4 1/2 hour drive) was at Duddings Lake, just because the name made me laugh. Nothing terribly exciting, but it would be a nice place to camp :)

In Other News

When it is cold out, I get crafty and I cook a lot. I have decided quilting in the winter-time is excellent because it keeps you warm. We have also found that since we do not have a heater in our apartment, on really cold nights the easiest way to warm up quickly was to bake something. Cooking something works well too since you stay warm by the stove, the but oven being on long enough to bake means that you have the benefit of both the kitchen and the lounge warming up.

One of my friends is expecting and her baby shower is this afternoon. This means that I have been able to satisfy my recent itch to make something by putting together a baby blanket for her. My sewing machine did not fit in my suitcase when I moved over, so I thought it would be best to opt for a small project that could be done by hand in case I could not find a sewing machine to borrow (the last quilt I made was queen size....lot of work to do by hand!). The biggest problem I had with this project was choosing the fabric, as I could have easily bought out half the store :)

Last week I was having cravings for Japanese food, so I decided I would make okonomiyaki, which roughly translates to "things you like fried together." It is delicious, easy to make, and one of those things where you can really add what you want. So Friday night I got my Japanese fix :)

I'm not a food blogger, so at least in this case you don't get the step by step photos and instructions. But if you want to try making them on your own, it's quite easy.
Mix together:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
about two cups of chopped cabbage (more or less depending on how much you like cabbage)

You can use shrimp, bacon, ham, or pork (or probably whatever else sounds good) as meat to go in it. Easiest way I have found (although it is not technically traditional, but I'm making do) is to chop and pre-cook the meat.

Heat a fry pan w/ a bit of olive oil in it, put a couple scoops of your cabbegey batter in the pan and make a "pancake" out of it. Put the meat on top while the bottom side is cooking and press it in a bit so it sticks together. Flip when the bottom side is just turning golden brown (you'll need two spatulas to flip if it's very big). Let it cook until both sides are done, I tend to flip it over a couple times so both sides cook twice. Top it with Okonomiyaki sauce (available at your local Asian market) and Kewpie mayo (also found at the market, and the best mayonnaise EVER). Other optional toppings include shredded dried seaweed and fish flakes :)

A beautiful day

Spring is coming, I could feel it in the air yesterday :) And I can again, as I sit out on my balcony in the sun to write this. Yesterday was the first actually warm sunny day we'd had in quite some time, several weeks I'd say. We've had sunny days and we've had a few that almost felt warm, but yesterday we got both :) I celebrated this in the morning by putting two loads of laundry out on the line, which were dry by lunchtime! Now before you laugh and think my life must not be very exciting if I'm using exclamation points over laundry, let me remind you that I do not have a dryer (I suppose if I have not previously told you this, then it isn't a reminder, but let's not get hung up on -technicalities haha). It is quite common to have a washing machine at home, but quite uncommon to have a dryer. There is a laundry mat fairly close by, that has HUGE dryers, but I am a bit reluctant to use them, because it costs $2 for 10 minutes of drying time. If you are wanting to dry big fluffy towels, well that adds up quickly. So this means our alternative is hanging them on the drying rack, which usually ends up on the balcony in the hopes of the wind drying it despite the cold. This is always an excellent plan until the wind is accompanied by rain :)

Anyway, enough about laundry. Once I was done playing housewife, I thought I'd spend the afternoon outside. Since I live in Taranaki, it was quite windy, but I thought I'd be brave and go climb Mount Paritutu. I posted about climbing that sometime last year, probably about this time of year actually, but the day I went up it was cloudy and gray so the view left much to be desire. It was delightfully clear yesterday so I was anticipating a gorgeous view of our majestic snow-covered mountain on one side and the ever-changing ocean on the other. I was not disappointed. How lucky I am to live in such a piece of paradise.

New Plymouth and Mt Taranaki

Beck Beach

Industrial side of town

The Port

The Sugar Loaf Islands

All grown up

It's funny what will make you feel like an adult. For me, it was not graduating college, or getting my first "real job" after said graduation, or even packing a suitcase to move to New Zealand. But two recent events in my life have made me feel as if I am indeed all grown up.

The first of these events is signing a contract at work which results in me becoming a salaried employee instead of just a contracted hourly person from the local employment agency. Yes, I am aware that being on salary does not necessarily you are better off financially since working more hours may or may not translate to making more money, but still. It made me feel grown up :) It also solidified for me that, at least for now, I was in the right place when it comes to work (yes, mom you were right again!). From my perspective, the company had enough faith in me and New Zealand's immigration system to take the risk involved in offering me the contract. I have the full support of my employer for my visa documentation, which is highly beneficial in keeping a visa to stay a bit longer in Kiwi paradise. An additional benefit to me is since I am now a Powerco employee, my boss has agreed to let me go through additional training to expand my skills. Who would have thought this little pianist from Missouri could figure out electrical stuff?! In the last few weeks I have been learning how to process/plan/approve the applications from our tree contractors who need to keep the lines clear of branches, etc. Fuses, switches, reclose blocks and 11meter Busck poles are worlds different from J.S. Bach and F. Chopin :) I am enjoying it though, it is a nice mental challenge.

The second "growing up" event was buying my first car! While my parents were wonderful in letting me have one of their old vehicles between college and New Zealand, it just is not the same as buying your own car with your own $$. That being said, if someone had asked me three years ago if I thought my first car would be a right-hand drive purchased in New Zealand, I probably would have laughed and said something along the lines of "Yeah, right." I did not buy a flashy, super exciting car, but that is clearly beside the point. I now own a 1993 Toyota Corona. I was actually not seriously hunting for a vehicle, but someone across the street from work was selling it, it is in excellent condition considering its age, and the price was right. I got to work one day and one of the guys on my team (who loves cars and was looking for an excuse to go car shopping) asked if I had seen it. The conversation wound up with us deciding I should go take a look at it. One thorough test-drive and negotiation later, I was working out to get the keys. I also had a fun international chat with my folks at home, since my dad knows lots about cars too, I called to ask him his opinion and mom jumped on the phone too, so she could ask the important questions like what color the car is and if it looked tidy :) All joking aside though, it was really a bit of a blessing to stumble upon, because the extent of my involvement in music in the area has made it increasingly to get around to rehearsals, gigs, schools, etc on time and without getting too wet if it was a rainy day. Not having to rely on a bicycle and the buses means I have greater flexibility to accept music opportunities which could eventually lead to full-time piano work, which would be a dream come true.
Anyway, here is my car :) The ladies at work have declared I need bright pink fuzzy dice.....we shall see on that one!

Winter weather

Growing up in Missouri, the automatic response to someone complaining about the weather (especially non-locals) was “Well, if you don’t like the weather, stick around a bit, it’ll change soon.” Since moving to Taranaki a year ago, I have heard a similar sentiment, but it is usually a declaration that you can experience all four seasons in one day. I think I have gotten up to about three in one day in my time here. Due to the temperature extremities I grew up with, it has not yet been both hot and cold enough in one day to feel like I had summer and winter both happening. However, the other day it was warm enough in the sun to feel like early spring, rained in the evening and felt damp and chilly like fall, while there is definitely enough snow on the mountain to make it clear that winter is still here.

Winter in Taranaki is not nearly as severe as what we survive in the Midwest. The worst part is the damp and the wind. It tends to rain quite a lot, and there is a chilling South Easterly that threatens to blow you over on the worst days. Temperature wise it doesn’t get much below freezing, if at all (unless you live right by the mountain), but the wind is able to cut right through you and it feels quite chilly sometimes. The last week has seen a delightful variety in winter weather. This time last week the skies were gray and it seemed like it might never stop raining. Some days it was not really daylight until nearly lunchtime, which I tend to find a bit depressing. Then we got a day of sunshine, but it continued raining. The benefit to this is that you get to see lots of rainbows J But in Taranaki, a sunshiney shower can last half the day. We were lucky over the weekend to have rain-free days of sunshine. I was happy for the sunshine, because we spent most of Saturday at Rugby Park for the Taranaki Rugby Union finals. Now that I have been around long enough to develop an elementary understanding of the game, rugby can be quite fun to watch. I find it a bit quicker-paced than American Football (which is called “grid-iron” here), and therefore easier to follow.

Anyway, back to the topic of weather, winter here is really not so unbearable, but I have found that I keep thinking the holidays must be just around the corner. After a few weeks of winter, my brain is thinking it must be time for Thanksgiving. Instead, it’s time for………….hmmmm well the next holiday is not until the end of October.

Holidays or not, we do have a pretty mountain to look at J

Taken on my way to work on Fri morning.
By the time I got to work, it looked like pink
candy mountain b/c the sun was just coming up :)

Morning, noon, and night

I used to not be a morning person. But I also used to not live right off the coast of Taranaki where I can watch the sun rise as I walk to the bus for work each morning. I do not have time tonight to write much, as I have to head out for the theater soon (show #7 in our 20-show run of Phantom!!), but as I was walking to the bus this morning and appreciating the gorgeous view in front of me, I thought what a shame it is that the rest of you are unable to see it. Then I remembered that I actually do have a way to share it with you, although the pictures are not the best quality as they were all taken on my phone. But here are a few shots of what I have seen over the past few months. During winter months the sun is just rising as I head to work and just setting as I get walk home (assuming I go straight home from work). Summer days are so long I often get up early to enjoy the morning before work, and the middle of summer stays daylight until nearly ten pm so I find excuses to be outside :)

Sunrises:

I work with a biker gang haha. Not really. In all seriousness, most of the guys in the office have motorbikes, so one day in the summer I took this when I got to work b/c the number by the front door of the office amused me, that was about half of them. It somehow inserted itself with my lovely nature pictures so figured I'd just share it :)

First thing I saw when I opened my door one morning

Noon-ish

The water on a cloudy day

Same spot during the summer 

Took this last spring (which was Nov 2013 by NZ calendar). Its currently nearly completely covered in snow, but haven't seen a clear enough day to get a good picture.

Sunset:

Home

"Home is where your heart is." "Home is wherever I'm with you." "Home is where you hang your hat."

The dictionary describes home as a shelter which is the usual residence of a person family, as well as the place in which a persons's domestic affections are centered. I'm going home this week, to my US home. It is exciting, and a bit weird feeling (a good weird) all at the same time. In my head, sometimes I forget that time has not stopped while I have been away, that the children in my life will have grown, and that my family and friends have carried on with their daily lives while I am off adventuring.

Since I am now living in a country that is mainly populated by westerners, it is easy for me to blend in, at least until I start talking. With the help of my flatmate (who is undoubtedly far more stylish than I am), I have acquired enough clothes from this hemisphere that I am able to not look too American. And New Plymouth is a fairly tight-knit community, so I often run into familiar faces around town. But once I start to talk, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that I have come from afar. My friends here joke that one day they will teach me how to speak correctly. I have made a few attempts at a kiwi accent, much to their amusement. Closest I can really get with any specific words is "awesome" and "awful", which sound more like "oar-some" and "oar-ful."

Once I do reveal my foreign-ness, top question is always "where are you from?", which occasionally is phrased as "where is home for you?" In the technical sense, home is Missouri. But, home is also New Plymouth, New Zealand, and Kumamoto, Japan, and Nagoya, Japan. Home is Kansas City, where I lived after college (well, technically Olathe, but that is possibly being overly technical haha), and home is wherever I can visit my parents and siblings.

Last week, I was trying to explain to a friend here how you can be torn between two places, or even three. I feel that it is something which can only be completely understood by those who have experienced living abroad. Some of it has to do with reverse culture shock (which I will be experiencing in a different way than ever before, as I'll be going from winter to summer!!). Another aspect is knowing how to share your experience with those you love. Since they could not see the sights with you and enjoy the experiences, you want to tell them every little bi about your adventures, but the photos never seem to do the scenery justice, and the stories you tell are only good to the your listeners the first ten times you tell them :)

This trip home is exciting more than anything. It has been a year since I have seen any of my family except my brother when he visited earlier this year, which turns out is a very long time to go without seeing those you love, even when the time has absolutely flown by. It is also exciting because my sister is getting married :) :) :) And it is exciting because I will get to share a piece of my American home with some of my Kiwi family who will also be visiting the US (they flew off today, slightly jealous that they got a head start!). Lastly, I am excited because at the end of my two week visit (which I know will be far too short), I get to return to my NZ home. Last week, immigration kindly granted me a 6 month visa to continue working here (gotta be honest, I was hoping for a year, but we will see what else the future holds), so I will be returning here just in time for dress rehearsals for Phantom of the Opera!

Well, now that I have re-read this and am about to hit the bright orange "publish" button, it seems like it is quite rambly (just made that verb tense up), but I feel that those of you who have traveled, and/or lived in other places, especially other countries, understand what I might mean when I say you can have many homes. I try to avoid going off on too many tangents in these posts, but as I am prepping to time travel and take bits of my life here to share with those "back home," I thought I would share my thoughts with you my dear readers :)

This is a song that was played at least on a weekly basis at my apartment in Vienna. Five American girls sharing life in Europe, knowing the time would be all too short but that we would always have the bond of that wonderful time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjFaenf1T-Y