Today was one of my favorite days since we've been here. We started off with a terrific church service at Northpoint Baptist Church. Then the girls, Bernadette and I went about 30 minutes out of New Plymouth to meet a Katrina, who may be the girls' new trainer. The drive was rather far but beautiful, way out in the boondocks. We also met Katrina's friend, Rachel and all of their horses. Bernadette, Mikaylie and Brylie all got a turn to ride but then the rain came and poured! It was quite chilly! I'll be going back this week to go on a trail ride with Rachel and Katrina. Katrina was quite impressed with the girls' riding abilities (Nancy, you should be so proud!), especially Brylie, the Fearless! Both girls are eager to get back into lessons. Nani decided, however, that she doesn't want a horse. No, she's decided that she'd rather a bunny. We can handle that! LOL! Much much cheaper!
Friday, Mikaylie had a better day at school. She seems more comfortable with her new tutor group. She'll still have more settling in to do but she's definitely a much happier kid than Wednesday morning.
Friday night, Billy and I went out with Bernadette and Stephanie's parents, Roland and Linda. We went to a bar called Frederick's where we actually knew someone! Evidently, Frederick's is a hot spot for Friday night after work in the business world. The place was packed and before we even got in the door, someone was waving at us through the window. It was Glenys, our bank officer that handled our new accounts, including our home loan. We met a couple of her friends as well as several couples that are friends with Roland and Linda. After a while, 8 of us headed over to Marinovich's, a seafood restaurant 2 blocks over. There we tried New Zealand Bluff Oysters which are supposed to be the best in NZ. We tried them fried, Kirkpatrick (lightly steamed in Worcestershire sauce and ham bits) and raw. They were good all three ways but I really prefer them fried. Raw they are much more firm and less slimy than Gulf Oysters and, oddly, I prefer them from the Gulf!
Scallops here are different. Not a different species or anything, they just serve the entire scallop. In the States, they're just those white, meaty, round pieces. Here they serve them complete with the roe (like the fatty, orange part in crawfish heads). It is the best part!!! I never even knew that's what they looked like and I wonder now what they do with the roe in the States. We've not yet tried them, but what they call "crayfish" here are lobsters to us and one can just go out in the ocean and get some! We've not done that yet, but Billy has bought fins, a mask and snorkel, so I'm hoping he'll give a try soon.
Currently, as I type, Mikaylie is with Bernadette and like 5 neighborhood boys playing touch rugby at Nani and Graham's primary school! Kaigan was there playing too but he came home so that he can head to Bell Block, where our church is located, for a get together for post high school students. Yay!!!! So glad he is socializing! He said he liked playing rugby and was pretty good at it; he is rather fast when he wants to be. Brylie is next door playing with Jordan and the boys are actually getting ready for bed. They've not really found any mates nearby but don't seem to care; my homebodies, Will and Graham. We're planning to find some sports or other activities to remedy that.
Thursday, we discovered via Nani that our neighbors two doors down are Americans! He is an ER physician, she is a stay-at-home mom (a PT in the States), and they have a daughter Nani's age named Meg and a four-year-old, Miles. Sadly, they are here for only six months and will be leaving in June. I'm hoping they'll change their minds. Personally, 6 months would be such a tease!
Tomorrow is Billy's first official day of work. Thankfully, he will be paid for the last two weeks that he's been unable to "work" but has been working on all the paperwork so that he can work. Once he learned he's actually getting paid for these 2 weeks, Billy's relaxed a lot! Then Friday he learned all his paperwork went through and that he can work Monday so all is well now.
Kaigan has an opportunity to work on a construction site tomorrow but he's not all that interested. The only reason he is remotely interested is because the boss flies stunt planes on the weekend and Kaigan would love to have a connection to the planes. He's also applied for a couple of jobs, at electronics store and at a sporting goods store. We may look into flying lessons for him if he wants to and if he gets a job and can cover part of the expense.
So tomorrow starts a new week, with Billy finally at work, 5 kids at school and Kaigan, hopefully, making some progress on a job and socializing. I've got many things to consider putting my time into, some for fun, some for potential income; all of which I'm prayerfully seeking God's guidance on.
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