The journey continues for a new year...

Well, I’ve been pretty lax in maintaining the blog so hopefully, this will make up for the lack of effort on my part.  First, we’ll start the New Year off with belated greetings and the newsletter we sent out earlier.  Some of you may have received this already and for those that didn’t, here we go!!

Tania wrote:

30 December, 2011

Hello everyone.  It is that time again.  I am a day earlier than when I wrote in 2010 but didn’t meet my goal of getting the letter out before Christmas.  Maybe next year?!!  We hope that 2011 has been good to everyone and that the Christmas season was full of cheer and good health.  We had a very quiet and lazy Christmas.  Visions of lounging at the beach remained just that, visions, as there was a lot of rain.

There were some major events in the George household this year.  Ina and I finally had a honeymoon; only took us 19 years to manage.  We went to Scotland for two weeks in March.  It is the first trip we’ve ever had for the sake of travel and I now understand why so many of you go junketing around.  It was fantastic.  The Scots we talked to kept apologizing for the weather but considering what we left in Edmonton, it felt quite balmy.  We are talking about another trip but will wait to see when that happens.

Urqhart Castle, Loch Ness

The kids went to the Coast and spent 3 weeks with their grandparents while we were in Scotland.  They loved every minute of their stay and were spoiled by Mum and Dad.  Of course, missing three weeks of school sure helped.  Connor was working up north, so he stayed home and shovelled snow.  I think he got the short end of the stick that time.

We got all the renovations done that we wanted to get done plus a few more, so the house was in good shape by May.  We listed it that month and sold it by June.  I was our realtor so we saved quite a bit by not having to pay out the commission.  We had only 7 showings and the couple that bought the house are looking at staying long term there.  Everyone was happy.

Alina and I spent July packing and cataloguing everything.  Sweet 16, Alina!  Tere and Morganne were the grunts and hauled things around for us.  Ina and Connor didn’t finish work until the 1st of August so they missed out on all the fun times.  We loaded up our U-Haul and headed for Vancouver on the 16th August.  We spent a couple of nights in Kamloops so we could visit with Gramma and some friends and then it was Vancouver.  Unloaded the truck at our moving company’s yard and then we headed south to Washington, USA.  We spent a couple of nights down there as Ina had always wanted to see the graves of two of his boyhood idols, Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix.  It was a fun trip and we were able to tick something else off the “bucket list

Two weeks were spent on Vancouver Island.  We had a great time visiting with friends and family and took lots of photos.  Connor spent most of that time with his mate, Cameron.  They have been friends since kindergarten and it was so interesting to see how their friendship just picked up.  I couldn’t believe how much talking they could do and then I spent time with my friend, Dianne; so much talking and laughing.  There were tears as we said our farewells but with so much love and best wishes from everyone, we knew they would be there in our hearts as we pursued our dream.

We arrived in Rarotonga on 5th September and were the last group to go through customs.  Loaded our gear onto the van and headed off to the house we had booked for two weeks.  It became known as the “Holiday House”.  It was an odd little house and the only thing we missed was its’ beach side location. (There was a window between the kitchen and bathroom so when one wanted a shower, everyone was asked to vacate the kitchen!) It was across from a lovely beach and we went swimming at least once a day.  During our stay there, Ina and I went house hunting and found a three bedroom house in the village of Arorangi to rent.  One of the things that drew us to this house is how similar the colours and layout were to our house in Edmonton.  It is much smaller so we are all learning how to live closer together and with fewer things

Morganne at Vaima'anga

The next big event was the Rugby World Cup!!  For my birthday dinner, Ina and I went out to a very nice restaurant, had a lovely meal and watched the opening and the first game.  It was bloody brilliant and I couldn’t think of a better way to turn 42, than by being in the Cooks, watching the All Blacks and spending time with my husband.  We ended up buying a TV just so we could keep watching the games at home and so the kids could actually see some World Cup.  It took us three weeks before we caved and bought it so there were lots of games watched at nearby pubs and bars.  We thought our container would arrive by then, but it didn’t actually arrive until the beginning of November.  We rented a car for the final so we could go to the National Auditorium and watch it on the BIG screen. That was quite a nerve racking experience but the All Blacks did it and won by 1 point.  We were so happy that we didn’t even mind the car having a flat battery.  I had paid to park it in the middle of the rugby field and it got left there over night.  We caught the bus home and went to the rental company in the morning to let them know where their car was parked.
Note:  Samoa did not do well at the RWC and apparently, a large part of the blame rested with Management treating it as one big holiday.  Turns out the village that one of the managers came from was disappointed in his performance and fined him.
The fine??  100 pigs!!.  Geez, only in the Islands...

As we waited for the arrival of the container, we slowly got ourselves sorted.  Alina was enrolled at Tereora College and Tere and Morganne were enrolled at Arorangi Primary.  We bought them uniforms and off they went, for one whole week and then it was term break.  They had about another month of school and then they finished for the year.  Alina has one more year left and provided she works hard, should be done by next December, with the courses needed to go onto university.  Tere will be in year 9 and we’re not sure what grade Morganne will be in.  It will either be year 6 or year 7.  She was in year 5, sat year 6 exams and guess we’ll find out in Jan where she’s at.  The girls settled in well and made friends  I started the Permanent Resident process and may actually have it completed by February.  The only hold up is getting my police record check from Edmonton.  I sent the paperwork in October so I am hoping that I will hear from them soon. 

Ina introduced Connor to his cousin, Mike Tavioni.  Mike is a master carver and Connor now works there from 9 – 2 pm, Mon – Fri.  He is learning a lot and really enjoys working with his “Uncle” and “Aunty”.  He are a few pics of his efforts so far.  He carved a kumete (bowl) for me and some Cook Islands drums for Ina and his cousin Cameron. 

Connor with his Aunty & Kumete (above)& Drum.  Made from frangipani wood

The only drawback is that he doesn’t make any money so he is thinking of going overseas next year, (May’ish), for a few months of work.  We also are the owner of a scooter, which is our main means of transport.  Connor owns a motorbike but doesn’t have his license or know how to ride it yet.  There are also 3 push bikes.  I get very excited when I get to rent a car for a day or two, as it’s so much easier to do the shopping and errands.  Driving on the other side of the road doesn’t seem like that big a deal now, compared to driving a scooter.  Alina also has her license so that has been very handy.

Beginning of November brought a few more changes.  Our container arrived, (HAPPY DAY!!), and Ina went back to work....in Canada.  The arrival of the container meant we could have all our treasures again.  Lucky Alina was done school by then so she had the privilege of unpacking.  We still have a room full of packed boxes, bins and containers but the essentials are unpacked.  We found Ina’s work gear and he flew out 5 days after the container arrived.  He is back at Firebag, Ft MacMurray and will be working there until mid-May.  Fortunately, he came home for Christmas and had a week to get his tan lines back on his feet.  He flies back on New Year’s Eve and we will meet up with him in New Zealand in March.  There are a couple of big George family events then, so the kids and I will fly over and spend two weeks with Ina there.

So, there you have it, the Georges 2011 in a nutshell.  There have definitely been some major adjustments with moving to the Cooks Islands but we all feel they are worth it.  I am waiting for my permanent residency to go through before I can look for work here.  Ina was able to reconnect with a friend, Mii, from Otara, whom he hadn’t seen for 17 years.  Mii’s wife, Karlene, and I have been meeting for coffee once a week which is wonderful, especially with Ina overseas.  Once school starts up again, the kids are going to be more involved with extra-curricular activities and I will look at volunteering at Morganne’s school and the public library.  In the meantime, life is pretty good here in the tropics, (no snow to shovel or ice to get rid of).  Not like last year!!!

Apparently, Morganne doesn't miss this at all!!

Ina wrote :

Well, that was pretty much our year...  I came home for Christmas on Dec 19th.  It was a very enjoyable and relaxed Christmas.  Tere and I went shopping for Morganne, we were at a loss as to what she would want for Christmas, we figured she loves to read so we couldn’t be too far off if we bought her a book.  We went to the bookstore and he found a Tintin book that was right in between two books we already had so we thought that would be the perfect gift.  Anyways, Christmas morning rolls around and Tere and Morganne exchange gifts and they look suspiciously identical to each other?  They unwrap and sure enough, they are identical!... Morganne had bought the same book for the same reason from the same place!  Go figure...

Christmas 2011, Rarotonga

Also, Connor and Alina bought a Christmas present for the house.  It was a nice big bean bag that is just perfect for lazing around on... as we don’t have a 4 wheeled vehicle yet, I thought they had brought it home on the bus...

Nope!...

Kids!!!

Anyways, although we didn’t get any snow this year, an awesome Christmas was had by all.

In the Cooks from about November through to April is Cyclone season so although we haven’t been on the receiving end of a cyclone yet, there was some heavy weather through the Christmas break.  We lost a couple of banana trees that were blown over in the wind but not the banana bunches on the trees so for a while, we were overstocked with banana’s.  We noticed that this may have happened with our neighbours too because we couldn’t even give some bunches away!!  Note: you can chop up a downed banana tree with a machete but when doing so, ensure you are not in close proximity to a wasp’s nest... when you’re stung 7 times in as many seconds, it’s a lesson learned quickly.

Also, the forecast for cyclones this year is promising as we are not expecting any major cyclone activity this year.  Although, I have heard the old people say to keep an eye on the mango trees and the chickens... if the mango trees seem to be fruiting suddenly or ahead of time and the chickens won’t return to the roost, then a big blow is coming!!  Makes sense, seems to me Mother Nature would know more about this stuff than me!


Tania & I also celebrated our 20th anniversary this Christmas!!.  We decided we would whisk ourselves away to a beautiful resort on a tropical south seas island paradise for a romantic dinner and to watch the sun set from the balcony of our 4 star room overlooking an azure lagoon...

The Rarotongan Resort

so we called up the hotel down the road and booked ourselves in!

(Pretty easy to “whisk” when your 8 minutes away by motorbike!).  Dinner was excellent followed by a show from a local dance group.  Tania was chosen by one of the kids to come and dance the “hula” with him.  She really enjoyed that.  Alas, we didn’t get our sunset as it was raining but sometimes, you could just see the waves breaking on the reef when there was a break in the weather!  Oh well.

It seemed like Dec 31st rolled around very quickly so it was back to Canada.  The flight was at 11:59pm so when some of the passengers started counting down, I thought it was for take-off!  Apparently not... there was a little cheer as midnight rolled around, the plane started to taxi and once in the air, we all settled down for the long flight, and that was my New Year’s celebration for 2012.

 
Back at work and I stay with the Edwards when I’m out.  Nice visiting family and seeing how things are going...

Cameron playing hockey, old school on an outdoor rink

the kids are still into their sports and dancing and getting bigger by the day it seems...


Apparently they have a mutant staying with them now who tried out for the “Blue Man Group” but wasn’t accepted because he was orange... have to feel sorry for the guy.

Orange guy

Anyways, It was a hectic year last year and another one is already in the pipeline... we are aiming to start clearing the land and landscaping on Atiu for the new house in the middle of this year.  As Aesop once said, “slow and steady wins the race”. 

‘Nuff said for now so from us all, e Meri Kiritimati e Te Mataiti Ou.

Life can be weird sometimes...

Well, here it is December already and November was kinda... quick, hectic and surreal,  you’ll see what I mean?!...

From Rarotonga

Yay!! Finally the container has arrived.  The kids have a few thoughts which I forced them to write down and here they are:

Morganne - It was fantastic! It was spantudieus! I almost cried for happiness that day! That is all. >;)

Tere - When the container got here, I was happy.  I finally found my Bionicle.  My room is a mess now.

Alina - Packing the container wasn't fun, and neither was waiting for it.  When it arrived, it was fun again... then we had to unpack it. =(

Connor - Hmmm.... it was a mixture of emotions, aheh. For the most part, there was a relieved sort of happiness, (it didn't wind up in the ocean, yay!), accompanied by a small sense of dread, (that's a lot of boxes to unpack).

I was glad when the container arrived as well.  Now we could finally starting making our rental place feel like home.  However, there was the added pressure of trying to locate the gear Ina needed for work.  We had about 5 days from when the container arrived at our place until the day Ina flew out.  Fortunately, all the lists that Alina and I had made came into play and we were able to find everything.  We unloaded the BBQ and Ina's big leather chair in the first day.  By the end of day two the container was unloaded and the house and carport were full of boxes, bins and packages.  It looked like home!!  We slowly worked our way through everything and Connor made the comment that every time he came back from work, it looked more like home.  Ina flew out on Saturday and the living room was pretty much set up.  By the end of last week, (25th Nov), Alina and I had all the boxes unpacked in the house.  The room that is to be Connor's is full and the carport isn't as spacious as it was.  Looks like we'll have to rent storage space so Connor gets his room back.  Alina and I have IKEA furniture left to assemble and a few more boxes from Connor's room to unpack.  It is definitely feeling more like home.  Next thing will be the Christmas decorating before Ina gets home.  Things are slowly moving ahead.

P.S.  The other day we had a problem with the oven when we were trying to make a banana cake so we used the BBQ instead and it tasted great!!  It only took 1/2 an hour too! We're going to try brownies next. Amazing how quickly you think of things once you have batter in a pan and no oven to cook in.

From Canada

You might have guessed from the previous paragraph that I’m back in Canada working right now?!.  We have a couple of major family functions coming up in New Zealand in March so took the opportunity to go make some extra money.  Continuing to work away from home to make this move and our house in Atiu happen, has always been a part of the plan but now that we’re at that stage... it’s a little surreal.  Whoever said dreams are free is right, but making them happen... well, that’s something else altogether.

It’s always hard leaving family but the big plus this time was seeing family.  Stopped in with Mark, Sharleen, Cameron and Caitlyn and that was cool.  Cameron showed me his room after redecorating with flags from Rugby World Cup countries.  They had recently returned from 2011 RWC in New Zealand where Cameron made it his mission to get as many flags as he could from where ever they visited...

Anyways, I’ll see them again on my way home for Christmas.

Being away from family is never easy, life isn’t easy either sometimes... but then, if it was and you never had to work to achieve anything... what would be the point?

Nuff said for now

RWC and Whanau...

Here it is November and I'm thinking,  I should update the blog so, here we go!!

National Math Quiz.

Ok, chronologically, this is a little bit before the last post but I was thinking, better late than never!.  Anyways, in the week before World Cup, the National Math Quiz was held at the Auditorium.  It involved schools from Rarotonga as well as schools from the outer islands such as Aitutaki and Atiu that were flown in to participate.  The schools provide teams from the relevant years (grades) and they are pitted against each other in a timed competition with a set amount of questions.  Both Tere and Morganne were chosen to represent their school, Arorangi Primary, in the usual exhaustive process whereby their teacher informed them the day before, "Oh, by the way, you two are in the National Math Quiz", followed by quizzical looks and comments such as "what did he/she say??".

Anyways, after a bit of scrambling around by the parents to figure out what was going on, then getting there to support the kids, it turned out to be a great night!.

Tere and Morganne brainstorming it

Morganne's team finished in the middle of the pack and Tere's team were just pipped for 3rd place out of 18 teams.  Way to go Tere & Morganne!.

RWC 2011.

WHAT THE !!!!!… Who would have predicted that result!!!…  Anyways, its was our first World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere in 17 years so we wanted to do… something special??!?…

Well, John Carter, the High Commissioner for the Cook Islands & the Government decide to create a Cook Islands Fanzone for the final so when we see that in the paper, we figure "Its All On!!!!…."   They set up the National Auditorium for the big night with a huge screen, admission is free, schools are invited to the "Haka" competion, local vendors are invited to provide refreshments (and make some money for themselves), face painting stalls are set up, its advertised on National T.V. and newspapers as a "family night, come along, dress-up and have fun!" and they make the venue alcohol free (awesome).  Heres a few pics of the kids getting into the spirit and blurry shots of the haka competion and Richie hoisting the cup.

George Kapa Haka group of Arorangi

Sweet Victory!!

HAKA!!

What you won't see in the photos is Tania hiding behind my shoulder and peeking out at the screen for most of the second half..., or myself mentally preparing myself for "Four More Years" in case we lost..., or the palpable tension in the Auditorium that you could cut with a machete, then the almost agonizing relief as the final whistle went… I have to admit to "getting a bit of dust in my eyes" at the end of that game but now that I look back, I think, what an awesome win for the AB's!. The French brought their 'A' game (and we all know what can happen when they do!), but at the end of the day, we stood fast and shut 'em down. I absolutely think that on the day that mattered the most, we were the best team IN THE WORLD! and it was awesome to share it with over 1000 like-minded C.I.'s…

It was such an awesome night that, when we left, I didn't really mind it when our rental broke down in the middle of a rugby field (temp car park) and we had to run to catch the "clockwise" bus to get home… The next morning we went down to the rental company and gave them the key and told them "maybe you should go get your car, they might want to play a game on the field soon!!"

Whanau in Paradise.

We've been going to church regularly as it was something Tania and I thought we should pick up again.  We attended in Canada, but drifted away from it a bit when we were in Edmonton.  We attend Arorangi CICC and a week after RWC, we were enjoying the service there and as we were leaving, a lady passed in front of us, I nudged Tania and said " Boy, that lady really looks like your cousin Moeawa (nee Tamanui)".  A minute later we were outside and that same lady was standing next to a man that looked familiar.  I remember thinking how much he looked like Moeawa's husband George Masina.  After thoughts of doppelgängers passed through my mind I realized the obvious, they actually were Tania's cousin & husband.  They were here for a wedding on the following Tuesday along with a bunch of other cuzzies,… turns out, Moeawa's sister's son was getting married to a girl with Mangaian ancestry.  After greetings we said we had to rush off to collect another rental as we were going to a 5th birthday that afternoon, but promised to hook up in the next day or so.

Moeawa

Cut to 5th Birthday…

We show up at the appointed time and as we are walking in, I met a friend I haven't seen since the OMAC (Otara Music Arts Centre) days, John Peyroux.  He was in a band called 'Thats Us" back in the day.  He is also closely related to Mi'i Taokia, the father of the birthday boy.  Mi'i lives here and he and I go back to the OMAC days also.  After a bit of chatting, we find out Johns here for a wedding too, on Tuesday!!.  So, within 2 hours, we run into Tania's family, who are here for the groom and my old mate from OMAC who are here for the bride at the same wedding… What a small world!!!…

Mi'i and John

Cut back to whanau…

Anyways, we got together with Tania's whanau later in the week and she was very happy to be able to visit.  By the way, if you see people that look Polynesian but you're not sure, they're the ones that go swimming with their sunglasses on…

Zena & Tania

"I wear my sunglasses......inthelagoon"

WHANAU

Nuff said for now...

What the???...

Almost 2 months since we arrived and life seems to have its own rhythm and own set of rules down here.  Things that are the norm in Canada are things the Cook Islands are struggling to adapt to, or things we took for granted in Canada are issues here, or sometimes we have a vision in mind of tropical reefs and they aren't what you envisioned, … not really surprising I guess when you think about it…

fr'instance, 

Below is a pic of the George "bikie" gang, .  In Canada, normal riding gear would be leathers and a helmet.  I'm wearing the typical Cook Island riding gear i.e. T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops, sunnies and a ball cap, all of which seem to be optional except for the shorts as I've seen plenty of locals riding round wearing just shorts,… or old ladies dressed for church with big hats,… or riders carrying all manner of paraphenalia with one hand while riding in all manner of outfits…. anyways, I digress.  They are introducing a law so that every one is required to wear helmets, so does that mean in the interest of decorum and safety, minimum required riding gear would be a helmet and shorts??.  Hmmm if I see that, then I will have seen it all!!.

Editors note: Tere is still without a vehicle due to the incident reported in the post 'School Daze'

fr'instance

Water is an issue right now.  Apparently, we are suffering the declining effects of a La Nina weather pattern that has resulted in a longer than usual dry spell.  All sorts of meteorological reports abound predicting one thing or another, some dark and foreboding, others non-committal, government is asking the populace to conserve water, some of us are wondering whether the future will bring rain or not.  I saw this in the paper and I say, thank God we have "The Weather Rock"!!

fr'instance

When I first saw "Finding Nemo" I was blown away by the graphics depicting the reefs and the sea-life living amongst it.  In Rarotonga, one of the best places to swim is Aro'a beach.  There is a huge coral reef out there that we snorkel regularly just "swimming with the fishes".  Not as vivd as the "Nemo" reef but pretty nonetheless.

Cut to Fri Oct 21… Tania & I were sitting on brain coral watching some kids a little ways off.  They were all excited as they had found a moray.  A little later we looked back and the kids were gone so we thought we would swim over and see if we could see the eel they had seen before heading back in.  I swam past a brain coral and into a small channel of sand between two areas of reef.  As I approached the other side, I saw a big sinuous yellow spotted body swim down behind a coral head about 4 metres away and then a huge moray head pop out from a gap.  This is not the actual eel but it's the same as the one I saw;

Needless to say my heart jumped.  I looked around for Tania, swam back to the brain coral until I found her and there she was, just standing there nonchalantly cleaning her goggles.

Tania:

Well, Ina is right up to a certain point.  We did swim over to where the kids were.  Ina went one way and I went another.  I was keeping my eyes peeled as I swam around the coral as I don't like eels to begin with.  I approached a massive brain coral, surrounded by other types of coral, with a channel of sand on the far side.  I was about to swim over the coral, towards the sand, when I looked down and saw the head of a spotted moray eel amongst the coral.  After lots of back pedalling and splashing about, I found a place to stand up.  I was positive this was the eel the kids had seen as it wasn't that big or scary looking:

 I saw Ina on the other side of the brain coral, swimming and moving about and thought I'd wait 'til he saw me so I could show him the eel.  When he came over, he pulled his mask off and said, "I found it and it's a monster.  I'm not @#$%ing you". He then told me to duck down and look straight ahead, past the brain coral and I would see its head.  I pulled my mask and snorkel back on and did what he said.  Nothing...  A few seconds later, I saw this monster eel weaving and swimming in our general direction.  It went down the channel of sand on the other side of the coral.  I rapidly ducked behind Ina and kept him and the brain coral between myself and that monster.  Once it was well past, I took off and headed back to shore. I paused to make sure Ina was still with me, let him know I was done for the day and hightailed it out of there.  Good thing I wasn't having my blood pressure taken that day as my heart was just pounding.  I now know where NOT to snorkel because I don't want to see THIS again:

Ina:

I guess it looked a little different to Tania but when the eel swam down the channel I estimated it to be approximately 1.5 to 2 metres in length.  Tania thought it was a little longer.  Swimming with goggles tends to make things look bigger so it looked all of 2 metres to me so 1.5 metres should be about right.  Anyways, I certainly did not see anything like that on "Nemo's" reef but it made for an exciting swim.  Admittedly one of the thoughts I had when I first saw the eel was that I never actually saw those kids go back in??…  On the way back, I saw some pretty big trevally feeding on something near another coral head.  Seems to have been a "BIG" day on the reef.

'Nuff said for now

We've been noticing a few differences here...

You know life’s a little different when...

You’re riding down the gravel driveway and you see “brain” coral is part of the crush...

You’re sitting outside in the evening, cooling down to the gentle sounds of the pig snoring in the neighbours backyard...

You start keeping an eye out for overhanging coconut trees, ‘cause you have to swerve around a few nuts laying in the road...

It's 20C @ night and you want a blanket on the bed because you feel a bit cool...


Theres no such thing as channel surfing because theres only one TV channel with about a dozen commercials...

You haven’t worn shoes since you’ve arrived as you don’t really have a reason to...

You’re surfing the internet because you don't want to ask when’s the best time to pick the bananas hanging on the tree outside your bedroom window because you don't want to sound like a "tourist"...

The members of the national rugby league team show up at the kids school to take them for a training run and toss the ball around...

School notices are brought home by the kids AND advertised on the national TV station...

At first glance you mistake a cockroach for a small, brown rat...

You’re in the lagoon, standing on a huge “brain” coral with your kids, and the tropical fish start nibbling at your toes...

You start categorizing the local fauna...

Friend (eats the bugs)

Foe (stands outside the window and crows)

Friend OR Foe?... jurys still out...
(I would like to count this one as a friend)


Anyways, Nuff said for now...

School Daze

Heres a few words from the kids

Alina: Our plan for my schooling was all muddled up for a while. I remember a coupla years ago Mum was thinking that I’d go to Tereora, so in grade nine when teachers would ask “which high school are you going to?” and I would say “Tereora”, and then the teacher would say “...where?!” (hee hee) Then I heard from Maria that school in the Cooks ends at age 16 (now how old am I? Hmmm...) Mum was really starting to wonder what I’d do for school now, and Aunty Lena suggested that I try this online homeschooling program that her school offers. So our plan was that I would get homeschooled with an Albertan education and graduate at the same time as my friends. But it turns out that one of the many bloody expensive things here is the internet, which meant that online schooling was suddenly a bad choice. Mum and Dad investigated schools, and found one where you should graduate by age 17, like Canada. And my assessment results showed that if I work hard enough, I might graduate early. So now I’m going to school... at Tereora. ;D

Alina at her new school Tereora College

Morganne:  Fist day at school and I was bombarded by questions. I didn’t exactly care though, but I did have to repeat some answers for the kids. The teachers were impressed with my work, (as were a lot of the kids!) and a whole bunch of kids loved my art. They were also impressed with my speed at running.  That’s it.  Really.  Nothing else. Go have fun.

Kids in their new uniforms

Tere: On my first day of school, it came to rocky end. Mine and Morganne’s bikes fell over during the day. When we got them back up, MY bike was making a weird “donk” noise, and the back brakes weren’t working. Undeterred, we left school., and this “donk” noise was getting on my nerves. So I decided to check this out at a nearby rugby field. And I stopped, with a very bad front flip. Here’s what happened: There was a bar that held up a basket, and when we removed the basket, the bar was still there. So when my bike fell over, the bar was caught on the tire. Then eventually it catches and I flip over the handlebars and the bike falls on me. Fortunately Dad was driving by and he picked up the bike and drove home with one hand steering, the other was holding up the bike. And the one thing that amazed me was that my uniform didn’t get dirty when I crashed. And I only got a small stab on my palm. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I’m out of ideas. Guess that’s it.  

Heading to school

Learning to ride,... getting there!!

Anyways, Nuff said for now

House number for the New Place??

This is an addendum to the previous post, I was reading through the paper the other day and there seems to be a move afoot to improve the house numbering system here!!!
I was laughing after reading the cartoon, but then, I thought that might be a good idea!...
This is what 'Kata' from Cook Island News had to say...

Actually, sounds pretty close, theres a big mango tree by the road and we have a green roof,... we're the fourth house past the mango tree so that would make us 'thingy' and our neighbour would be on fire!!!

The New Place...

Guess its official,  we aint homeless anymore!  We also just got online at home here.  (Kids say 'YAYYY")

Moved out of the ‘Holiday House’ on Friday last week and settling in to the new place.  When I asked about the address, landlady says “Ummm, don’t really have one??!?!?”... closest thing is

Ina & Tania George, Inave,

Arorangi  Village, Rarotonga,

COOK ISLANDS.

Asked about P.O. boxes, waiting list is 3 years long, so we go in to the Post Office to collect our mail, so it’s all good...

Not right across the road from the beach anymore but they're just a few minutes away.  Scouted a few of the closest beaches, Arorangi has the best beaches so that’s good.

Been in the new place a week now, the "holiday'" phase is definitely over and starting to get adjusted to living here...

 The new place in Arorangi...

Kickin back Sunday nite...

Yard clean-up 'round one of the Banana trees...

Fixing a flat tire,

Not sure where the spare is, not under the seat thats for sure!??!..

Oh well, figure it out eventually...

Kids are starting school this week, blog again soon

Anyways, Nuff said for now...