Winter is here

So Sheba's new family came and picked her up on Friday night. I guess I'll find out at work on Monday how things are going. Saturday I did vacuuming and am now relishing having my house back to 'normal'. Definitely a lesson learnt. I was a little bit sad to see her go, but also very relieved that things have worked out as well as they have. So it was a dry-eyed farewell and readjustment period. Although Mum went out and bought a pot-plant for me, in the cat's stead... I suppose at least that won't leave poos in the bath.

We had the second week of church badminton on Friday night which was fun, although my shoulder still has a twinge of pain every now and then, if I make some sudden movement or try to smash. Anyway it feels good to be getting some exercise again.

Speaking of exercise our soccer game on Sunday was cancelled - it's been raining continuously here for the last 24 hours and the grounds are resembling a big duck pond. So it'll be another week to wait for my first post-recovery game.

This week being the last week of the school term, I'm organising the first CKC prize night, at my house - just like we had for KBC. There are 4 kids who have enough points to qualify, so hopefully it will be a fun time.

Two weeks to go until my next trip overseas: two days at Stanford for experiments on the way to a conference in New Hampshire. This is my first conference invitation, which means they are paying for most of the travel. It looks good on the ol' CV too! And it'll mean adding another state to the list of where I've been...

I made a mistake

"I've called her Sheba. Yes it is unusual to have a female ginger cat.

We got her from the Wellington SPCA, she'd only arrived a few days before (so that was a good deal for them, I guess!) and the reason she was there was her previous owners said they didn't have enough time for her. Which is pretty sad on their part.

So far she's been very good, only ever done her business in her dirt box, and eaten pretty much anything I've put down, and not scratched at the furniture too much. The first night she was a bit mad, running everywhere (it didn't help that I wasn't feeling well). But she is very friendly, and hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll settle down into being in a new house."

Sorry Sheba. I made a mistake in thinking I was in a position to look after you. You're very cute, and friendly, and you deserve better than me. I know you're still settling in, and I shouldn't mind it that you've been using the bathtub as a toilet, that you don't want to eat sometimes, that you leave hair all over the place. That's what cats do, so I'm told. To be honest I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe that's the problem.

I hope you'll be happy with your new house. Come Saturday and you'll have a real family to look after you, not just a loner who's hardly ever home.

You'll be ok - look how quickly you settled into my place.

The question is, will I? Talk about feeling like a complete and utter failure. But this is the best thing for you, and it's definitely a lesson learned for me. There are some things in life that you can't test-drive, and this is one of them. How do you know how much your life will change by taking on a new pet, like any new relationship? Simple - you don't. Unless you've been there before.

The shortest day

Tomorrow is the shortest day (in the southern hemisphere, at least).

Anyway I needed a title more interesting than "last week".

Big news from last week is, I went back to fracture clinic yesterday for another x-ray and consultation. While things are far from 100% it is slowly getting better, there is clearly bone growth. I'll always have a lump but they don't need to do anything else. And best of all, I've been given the all-clear to get back into sport!

That evening we had our inaugural badminton night down at church, which was lots of fun. My shoulder was hurting by the end but it is ok this morning.
They didn't have soccer training on Friday night so hopefully I'll be able to play if I just turn up tomorrow - assuming the game is on. The weather is supposed to be bad.

New addition

Sorry for being cryptic in the last post.

Here's my news:





I've called her Sheba. Yes it is unusual to have a female ginger cat.

We got her from the Wellington SPCA, she'd only arrived a few days before (so that was a good deal for them, I guess!) and the reason she was there was her previous owners said they didn't have enough time for her. Which is pretty sad on their part.

So far she's been very good, only ever done her business in her dirt box, and eaten pretty much anything I've put down, and not scratched at the furniture too much. The first night she was a bit mad, running everywhere (it didn't help that I wasn't feeling well). But she is very friendly, and hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll settle down into being in a new house.

One week back

Not much to report from the first week back after Kenya. It still feels like a dream that I was actually there. Apart from the malaria tablets that I still have to take, one a day until they are all gone.

CKC (Calvary Kids Club) is going well, we are working through learning about each of the days of Creation this term. At the end of the term we will have the first CKC Games prize night at Bridget's house so that could be interesting... there won't be any Fanta (my carpets are cream-coloured). Ice-cream yes, Fanta no.

Plan for this weekend is to get a significant addition to my house. I won't say anything more in case we can't find the right one but once it does happen I will reveal all.

Hmm what else. Work is going ok - I have two major papers that are in their final stages of drafts at the moment. Both have got about 8-10 co-authors and it seems just as the statistics about committees (that the more people you have, the less productive it is, and the optimal number of people on a committee is about 0.8) the same is true about writing papers. Everyone wants to throw their $0.02 in and sometimes they disagree. Annnny-way such is life.

Kenya trip diary

Ok so as you will notice I've updated this blog with the diary I kept while in Kenya. I've broken it down into bite-sized chunks, but because (at least the way I have it set up) the posts go from newest to oldest, you have to start HERE and keep clicking 'Newer post' to get it in the right order.

Or use the navigation thingy under June 2008.

More pictures here!

Videos here!

Enjoy...

Final impressions

start here...

It’s difficult to put together a few summary thoughts, and I have already written about the biggest things that impacted me.

We witnessed the disparity of wealth in Kenya first hand, both extremes. We participated in some of the richness of African culture. We were treated very generously in Emali, by people who had next-to-nothing. They have an innocence and contentedness that is almost enviable. Yet there are still problems in some areas: AIDS, polygamy and child marriage, which mostly stem from a lack of education. It is a generational thing that will take time for a society to change. And just as we can’t solve all the world’s problems, we can’t solve them instantly – but we can make an impact for one person, one family, one community.

Childfund NZ home page

I love airports (not) (1-2 June)

start here...

We met up with the others after showering and packing, checked out and headed to the airport. With two hours to kill we all dispersed to the shops and I managed to find a few things worth buying.

The flight from Johannesburg to Sydney was quite good: it was overnight this time and I got about 7 hours’ sleep. I also had a spare seat next to me, and the flight was not too full so we disembarked pretty quickly (for a 747).

At Sydney airport we farewelled Di and Colleen and faced another 3-4 hour wait for our final flight back home. Sam and I had quite a good chat about the air force and church etc. (and the trip, of course). Then it was goodbyes all around, as I was the only one going to Wellington and leaving slightly earlier than the others.

Half a day in Johannesburg (1 June)

start here...

Both groups left for their respective destinations at about the same time. The taxi fare of 1100 rand return (about $200) was a bit of a shock; we discussed hiring a car for the day but by then the cab had already arrived. Paul managed to negotiate him down to 800 rand, which was better than nothing but still expensive.

Frances and I stuck together, Kate and Joy headed off and Paul kind of wandered around checking on us from time to time.

We didn’t really see anything we wanted to buy and only got a couple of things. So we ended up spending more to get to the markets than we did while we were there. Lunch was very nice though – I had salmon and pasta.

Flyaway home (31 May)

start here...


Saying goodbye to our van and driver Lucas (L-R: Paul, Joy, Kate, Frances, me, Lucas)

We had a relaxing morning in Nairobi, as we didn’t have to check out of the hotel until 10. Getting across town took about 45 minutes. I got a few family gifts at the airport in Nairobi. The flight was not too bad; we even arrived about ten minutes early into Johannesburg.

We made our way to the same hotel as before, avoiding the opportunists. I got about US$100 changed into rand; which was possibly too much but anyway.

Tomorrow five of us are going to the Rosebank markets – apparently they are meant to be a bit more civilised, like the ones in Melbourne. The other five remaining (as we farewelled Neville at the Tanzania border, Ian and Beryl in Nairobi, and Jean and Vern going their separate ways from Johannesburg) are going on a private tour of Soweto.