The Daily Life of Paul and Yo

As I anxiously await the arrival of my family in December, I dream of the fun and relaxation to come. My mind wanders to sandy beaches, sunny skies and catching up on some reading in a reclining beach chair. Amongst all of the anticipation, we are still reminded of our current reality. Daily life brings both enjoyment and frustration. As we are enjoying our time in New Zealand, our days remain to be fairly ordinary and uneventful. Most days, Paul works between 8 and 18 hours, which means that I typically see very little of him. So, in order to improve this I decided to start working at Molly Malone's (the pub) with Paul. I haven't gotten very many hours yet, but it has been a lot of fun. It's nice to work in a fast paced environment, as it keeps you busy and helps the time pass quickly. My jobs so far include bartending and minding the bottlestore. They might even have me serve in the restaurant upstairs, but we'll have to wait and see what is available for me.
Besides that, I've been keeping busy at home by walking our flatmates dog, gardening, reading, playing a loaned guitar and tidying up the flat. I know it sounds very glamourous, but I'm trying to retain my humility about my station in life :) Just kidding, I'm actually really enjoying having some time to relax and do some of the things I really love. Speaking of which, Debs and I decided to do some serious gardening this past week, and made a stunning tranformation. The back garden had an adorable little pond surrounded by a lush garden. The only problem was that the plants were so lush and full that you could hardly see the pond itself. So we decided to tear out some of the overgrown plants and replace them with some river rock and groundcover plants. We had a great time, and its really fun to look back on your accomplishment.

BEFORE

AFTER

We also think excitedly of everything to happen in the near future. From December 6 to January 4, my parents and my brother will be in New Zealand, and we have a lot of things planned for the five weeks. We are planning to do a tour of Northland (the Northern most region of NZ), and then my parents will do some more touring of North Island. It will be really great to have my family here for Christmas.

In January, we are also expecting Paul's dad for 10 days. We are really excited to go see some of the South Island. We are planning to take the Ferry across and then rent a car or a campervan on the other side. We will simply drive to see as many sights as we can in five days, and stop at campgrounds along the way to sleep. Should promise to be a great trip. I look forward to posting on all of our adventures.

One last bit of news...we have booked our flight home! We are scheduled to arrive in Toronto on February 9th =) We cancelled our Wellington to Auckland flight, so that we could take the train to Auckland. We are planning to spend a few days in Auckland before we come home.

Well, that's all for now, can't wait to read some more comments!

Yolanda