Happy Holidays

Just before Christmas, we all managed to take a side trip to Rotorua, including a stop at Ohope Beach, which is a gem even by NZ standards.

Despite a couple missed flights (one cousin tried to board his plane a day late - sounds like a professor in the making?), all of the expected Amiry clan had arrived by Christmas Day. With 20 people in one house, it's been bedlam, but good fun.

Our first guest is already leaving, however. Apameh's heading back to spend New Year's Eve in Cologne with her friends. We'll miss her. The city kid/fashionista who arrived with 10 pairs of high heels and no walking shoes was overheard yesterday lecturing her aunts (who were climbing Damavand before she was a twinkle in her father's eye) about the need for good hiking boots. She came to us as a mere girl, but is leaving as a mountain goat.

Cheers,
Sandie

Maman's 80th Birthday

Ali did his PhD research on chaos theory. Spending time with his family, it's easy to see where his inspiration came from.

It seems like I haven't had an hour to myself for months now. That's not strictly true, but after spending all day researching my papers, or preparing lectures in a subject I know nothing about (NZ employment law) to teach Chinese students who barely understand English, my free time in the evenings has mostly been spent veging in front of the TV.

But I'm only tired, not complaining. For example, Thanksgiving was a blast: our closest friends from Wharton, Ashish and Anjali, came for a visit, and with Apameh, Armaz and Angelique, we had a full table of friends and family. Ali and I both had the day off from teaching, so I made a traditional dinner of stuffed roast turkey, homemade dinner rolls, potatoes and gravy, kumara (Maori sweet potatoes), rhubarb-strawberry sauce (I couldn't find cranberries here), and asparagus (it would be the traditional veg if Thanksgiving were a spring holiday up north).

The next day we began a whirlwind trip to Rotorua, Taupo, Napier, and the Martingborough wine region, that included Zorbing, torrential rain, and some delightful rieslings and sauvignon blancs. After four days, Ashish and Anjali headed to the South Island and we drove back to Auckland. We got home about 1 am; fortunately our lectures weren't until the next afternoon, although I still had to prepare mine. Two days later, December 1st, I even managed to hand in my last paper on time.

Over the weekend Ashish and Anjali returned from their South Island adventure with video proof that they're now experienced bungy-jumpers. Certifiably insane, methinks, but they swear it's great fun and they'd do it again. Sane or not, it was wonderful that they took their precious vacation time to come visit NZ, and I sure hope they enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed seeing them.

We didn't have any time to get lonely, however, because the next day after Ashish and Anjali left us Ali's family began arriving for the big reunion to celebrate Maman's 80th birthday. We've rented a big beach house in Karekare, about an hour's drive away and one of our favorite hiking areas. We're expecting all of Ali's sisters (but not his brother, who's new wife just had a baby), and most of their families. So far, the prize for the longest journey goes to Babak, who's a Peace Corp volunteer in Romania. It took him most of a day just to get from his village to the airport in Bucarest, before flying via Amsterdam, Singapore, and Melbourne to Auckland, close to 48 hours total travel time!

Yesterday we took Maman to Piha Falls, and then to the beach. Today's intermittent rain made a trip to the hot springs at Waiwera more appealing. Getting us all moving at the same time is a bit like herding cats, but everyone seems to be having a great time.

Pictures to follow. Once the chaos settles.

Cheers,
Sandie