To Tatou Ora (Our Life)

Temaeu put together this months blog. My contribution this month is the title and a few lines at the end!  Read on...

Morganne's Cultural Performance

The evening of 4 April, 2012 was to become an evening of great importance to the George household.  This was the evening that all 13 schools, primary and secondary, on Rarotonga would provide a cultural group to perform for 7 to 10 minutes.

  

Some of the schools are big enough that students could sign up for the culture group.  Morganne's school is not that big, so the whole school had to perform:  all 160 or so students.  The theme was "words of wisdom"... Roe Porokiroki.  

The village that we live in, Arorangi, is known for it's pe'e which, I believe, is a war chant.  As Morganne attends Arorangi Primary, this is what the older students were learning.  The younger students learnt a drum dance, which they did with great enthusiasm.
We found out about this event after we got back from N.Z.  Morganne came home from school one day, quite distraught, and part of it was from trying to learn the pe'e.  She did learn it and was getting more comfortable when she came home with a list of things we needed to take to a costume making afternoon on Saturday, March 31.  
This is what the list contained: 

• 50 rau iti leaves, 
• 20 kikau leaves, 
• 5 palm branches, (the larger ones), 
• a costume needle,
• black or green thread and scissors.  

I was quite familiar with kikau by now because of Morganne's other projects.  We had the palms growing in our yard so that wasn't a problem.  A costume needle and the thread, well, just stop off and pick that up in town but, what the heck were rau iti leaves and where were we going to get those from?!!  I was volunteering @ Arorangi Primary and so was shown what rau iti were but we didn't have any in our yard.  What to do??  The morning of the 31st dawned and as I was walking up the hill from the bus stop, I noticed a big pile of kikau branches by the side of the road.  The village of Arorangi was going through a beautification process and lots of branches and trees were being cut down.  That took care of the kikau on the list, which meant I didn't have to knock on our neighbour's door for that.  Still didn't know what to do about the rau iti.  When I got home, I told Morganne about the kikau and off we went to get the 20 she needed.  As we were walking home, we met another neighbour and she was wondering what we were up to.  I told her about the costume making afternoon and mentioned how we were looking for rau iti.  Fortunately for us, she had a big plant and cut off quite a few branches for us to use.  Yay great neighbours!!!

As our motorbike had a flat tire, Morganne and I got to walk the 2 km to church hall, carrying all our treasures with us.  Once we got there, it didn't take long to be shown what to do.  First we had to "bone" the rau iti leaves, which meant taking the central vein out from the bottom part of the leaf.  The leaf would then be braided into a skirt, along with the other 49.  Morganne was very good at boning her leaves and didn't shred them.  I went through a few before I finally got the hang of it.  Using one's teeth really was easier than fingernails or scissors.  After all the leaves were boned, they had to be torn to the correct length for the skirt.  The pieces being torn off would be used for the bodice.  Then, it was time to make the skirt.  Firstly, a braid was started out of raffia and after there was enough for a tie, the leaves were added in, one at a time.  I thought I knew what I was doing and merrily braided away.  When I was about 2/3 done, the woman in charge caught sight of the skirt and said that it was all wrong and to undo it.  Then she showed me, again, how she wanted the leaves to look and I started again.  Second time was the charm and thank goodness for "Aunty" Doreen's patience and help.  

We ran out of leaves that we had taken with us, so we got to take the skirt home to finish off there.  Next was the bodice, but it was so much easier than the skirt as this time I knew what I was doing.  We also ran out of leaves for that so that was also finished at home on Sunday.  It took us 3 hours to almost complete two things.  "Aunty" Doreen said that she and her daughter, one of Morganne's mates, would make the necklace and that someone else was taking all the palms to make the head pieces.  We were told to take the finished costume down to their family store to be kept in the cool room until the 4th April.

There were lots of practices and rehearsals at the school during Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Morganne actually came home early on Wednesday so they could rest up and eat before their evening performance.  She was to be at the hall by 4 pm to start getting dressed.  Down we went and I had been thinking that I'd just leave her and then see her at the National Auditorium.  I ended up staying and helped her get dressed.  By the time we got to her hair, poor Morganne had had enough.  

She was quite overwhelmed by everything and really, really, really didn't like how her hair was supposed to be.  There were tears and lots of muttering.  Yay again to "Aunty" Doreen for stepping in and helping to settle Morganne.  

I went home to get Alina and after Alina reminded Morganne how bad her first costume was at Eastglen, Morganne was feeling much better.  She went out and got her "makeup" on, which was a stencil of a sun on her cheek and shoulder.  Morganne looked so great and I was just so excited to see our baby in a traditional Cook Island costume.  Fortunately for our little tomboy, they were doing a pe'e and so didn't have to wear a coconut bikini with a short skirt or a halter top and skirt.  Most of her was covered up, just how she likes it.

Alina and I went to the Auditorium to watch the other performances.  We could have stayed and gone on the bus with the school, but I had bought tickets and I wanted to see what the other schools did.  It was well worth it.  All the performances were fantastic but we did enjoy Arorangi's the best.  Hmmmmm…… wonder why?  Morganne did well and blended right in. Her favourite part was when they did the haka and it really showed.  Kia kaha!!

Arorangi Primary's performance (read more...)

Here is a word from the girl herself:

Well, It's been a while but I do remember what the main event was, and that was me having a melt down. ( >_< embarrassed ) So while half of the school was trying to figure out WHY I was crying my head off, I wasn't getting any better. Only a few of the kids knew why I was crying, (which was stage fright) and was embarrassed beyond my comfort zone. The good news is that I did manage the rest of the day without crying, the bad news is my pride and dignity were wounded and STILL mending as we speak. 

So that's the exciting event, so BYE!!!!



Morganne & friends volunteering (read the article here...)

Parent Associations and Schools

While we lived in Edmonton, I was an active member of the parent association at the children's elementary school. During the seven years I was a member, we noticed a marked decline in parents showing up for the monthly meetings and willing to be part of the association. The member holding the treasurer position was still volunteering to do so, long after his youngest child had left that school and even after she graduated from high school!!!  The association tried so many different methods of getting parents involved and kept telling people that the biggest commitment was once a month for an hour, two hours at the most.  This was not even a proper meeting but more of an information sharing session between the parents, the principal and teachers.  There was only one meeting a year and still parents wouldn't commit.  It was very frustrating and I couldn't understand how out of a student body of approximately 250, we were struggling to get 5 parents a month!!! I am hopeful that things have improved but am not sure that they have.  I did not attend the meetings at the junior high schools or high schools that our kids went on to, but judging from the newsletters, attendance there was not any better.

March 28th, I finally attended a parent meeting at Tereora College.  The meeting had been mentioned in the national newspaper a few days prior with a reminder on the day.  There are approximately 700 students attending the College, so I was expecting a fairly decent turn out, especially with the mentions in the paper.  There may have been 30 parents and a lot of the previous year's executive were re-elected.  The new principal they have at Tereora is quite excited about some of the changes he is planning and what the College will be able to offer to their students and he needs the parents to support him.  It was so disheartening to see parental apathy is just as apparent over here as it is in Edmonton.  There were even two articles in the paper regarding this poor parent turn out.

I strongly believe that if our children are going to do well in school, we, as parents, need to be involved.  If one chooses to not attend the meetings, then the opportunity to voice ideas, opinions, etc. is lost.  We are our children's strongest role models and this is one of those times that we need to stand up and be counted. It's just as important as going to vote on election day. If we don't, the apathy will grow and smother us.

Oe Vaka

This is one of the coolest team sports ever!!  Six people get in an outrigger canoe and paddle.  Last November, we were able to watch a few of the Vaka Eiva races, which is an annual event in Rarotonga.  Teams from all over, Canada, U.S., N.Z. and Oz, come and compete.  There 

are many different races and different distances.  I think the most gruelling one was the race around the island of Rarotonga.  The teams are on the ocean side of the reef, so are not only paddling like mad to beat the others, but are also making sure they don't end up on the reef.  I enjoyed watching and just thought it would be so much fun to give it a go.

Vaka Eiva 2011

After we got back from N.Z., I met a friend of Ina's sister, Tai, at the Saturday morning market.  She is one of the "Vaka people" and mentioned that they were starting a novice class on Wednesday afternoons.  I missed the first three Wednesdays, due to various school events, but finally made it on the 11th April.  It was well worth the wait.

In 2009, when Ina and I came over to Raro after his dad's tangi, we also went to Atiu where his father was born to claim some family land for our house. Before we left, Ina stopped at his fathers grave to ask for his guidance.  On the second day there, Ina and I were at one of the beaches (Taungaroro - background pic to this blog). 
A black kotuku (heron) flew by, then a few minutes later, a pair of kotuku flew back across the beach, one was white and one was black.  Ina said, when he saw them fly by, his first thought was of his parents and took this as a sign from his father we were doing the right thing.  After that day, we saw a black kotuku every day on Atiu and then a few times on Raro. Since then, we have always thought of the black kotuku as Ina's Dad and the white one as Ina's Mum.
When Ina returns to Raro or on the day he leaves, he goes for a swim at Aroa Beach.  On New Years Eve when he was there last, a black kotuku flew straight at him, then over his head as if to say, "don't worry about your family, we'll be waiting for your safe return"



Vaka launch site at Muri
Legends speak of Vaka leaving from here to settle
New Zealand over 1000 years ago.

On the 11th, as I was driving to Muri on the motorbike, I saw a black kotuku.  That seemed like a fairly auspicious beginning.  I stopped in Matavera to pick up my friend, Karlene, and off we went to Muri.  Our first challenge was finding the right spot.  We went down one drive, only to have it end at a private property.  We went back to the sailing club, parked there and asked if anyone knew where the vaka training was.  They thought it was either there or down by the rugby club.  As we had 20 minutes to spare, we started walking along the beach in the direction we thought it was.  
There, just ahead of us was the black kotuku.  When we got close to it, it flew a bit further down the beach.  
Again, as we approached, it flew a little bit further down.  We kept walking and then looked at the time.  We had 5 minutes left and we still hadn't found the right place.  
We left the kotuku, which was just a bit ahead of us, jogged back to the bike and I checked my cell phone.  The directions had been texted to us, so off we went.  
When we walked down to the correct beach, we realized that was where the kotuku had been waiting!!

Temaeu's Grandmother told her to always paddle her own canoe.

One of the coaches arrived and a few other people showed up, so it was time to learn about Oe Vaka.  Firstly, bail out all the rain water.  Next, get the vaka down to the water.  We were told a few of the house rules, shown how to hold the paddle and in we got.  There were 3 of us who had never done any paddling, two women who had and the coach.  As we were paddling towards one of the little motu, (islets), a small school of fish jumped out of the water.  I thought they were maroro (flying-fish) but wasn't sure.  We spent about 45 minutes learning how to paddle in time, change from one side of the vaka to the other, etc.  When we got back, the other coach was there so we went out and did a few drills with her.  I think we were paddling for over an hour and I loved every minute of it.  Just being out on the water, seeing the fish jump, (another school did it as we were doing our drills), listening to the rhythm of both paddles and waves, gasping in lungfuls of clean air; it was so exhilarating.  I can completely understand the appeal of Oe Vaka.  I'm not sure that I want to compete at Vaka Eiva but I do know that I have found a new sport that I think I will enjoy for many, many years.

 

Photo by:Clark Miller

As I was taking Karlene home, a pair of kotuku flew by, one white and one black.  Thank you, Mum and Dad.  It was truly a beautiful experience.


There's just one more thing... when I returned to Canada, Temaeu's Mother told me she had bought some raffle tickets earlier for all her grandchildren in the hopes one of them might win something.  It turns out Morganne was the lucky winner!

Her prize?... a signed Robert Bateman print of a Kotuku...



'Nuff said...

The Gathering...

Another month has gone by and time to update already!!

We were all looking forward to this month as we would be meeting up again in New Zealand. I came down from Canada, and Temaeu and the kids came over from Rarotonga.

We celebrated the wedding of the eldest grandchild...

and my family completed our duty to our parents by having my Fathers Unveiling...

These events always lead to a gathering of the extended family, a time to meet again and catch up with what’s been happening in everyone’s lives and probably the most important thing...

seeing each other again… 

“Jason the Elder”, married a lovely girl by the name of Mayana.  She is of Samoan and Maori descent and all in all, the wedding was a big success.

It was great seeing extended family on both sides... took some time to visit Temaeus family in Hamilton and Whangarei...

Then up to Kawakawa to see the whanau and to visit her “bones” at Karetu Marae

The Unveiling was a time for the family... working together to get things ready, hanging out, long nights and long conversations...

Also, it was the first time that all the Grandchildren had been together in one place at the same time.  Not sure if that will ever happen again... so we enjoy what time we have together while we have it.

It was a time for meeting family again and some for the very first time, singing, laughing, reminiscing, fulfilling old promises, and all those things you do when you know you only have a short time together, and try to extract every bit of life from each moment...

The stone is from Jimi Hendrix's grave in Renton, Washington, the wood is

Miru from Pukapuka, Connor carved this for his Uncle.

Elana, My Grand-niece.

When my daughter was born I once told her;

“You should always have your friends on your left to travel the path with you, your family on your right to catch you when you fall, your ancestors behind you so you know where you come from and the path ahead should always be clear”

Sometimes, it’s good to look back on the path travelled...

'Nuff said.

Another step closer...

It’s been almost 2 months since leaving my family at Christmas and here I am sitting in camp thinking about how I ended up here... I thought about how long we’ve been working towards this, little by little... It started with our “5 year” plan which, funnily enough, is approaching the end of its 10^th year... 

Planting lots of fruit trees but no fruit yet, know what I mean?

This month though, looks like we have the first fruit on our fruit tree...

 When we started this blog, we mentioned things like “fulfilling a childhood dream“and Temaeu took a big step towards that this month.  Here’s what she has to say...

Temaeu:

When I graduated from Cowichan Senior Secondary School in 1987, my write up made mention of the fact that I would love to be a beach bum in the Cook Islands.   Back in 1988, after meeting Ina and finding out that he was a Cook Islander, it seemed like I was a little bit closer to realizing that dream.

When we moved here in September, 2011, I was 98% of the way there but there was still the issue of my residency.  On Friday, 17 February, I went into the Immigration office and after meeting with the director, who had a couple of questions to ask me, my patience was rewarded.  My N.Z. passport was returned with a residence permit stamped inside.

This allows me to live and work here for a year.  It needs to be renewed annually but that is relatively simple compared to the application process. To be eligible for a residence permit, I needed to have a full medical examination done; including blood work and chest x-rays and reports on the results, (which I had done at the Rarotongan Hospital). I also needed Ina's birth certificate, his parents' birth certificates, our wedding certificate, a letter of support from Ina and a police check from Edmonton. The police check took 2 months to get as first the application form had to be mailed to me. Then I completed it and got it signed by a notary public and sent it back. Of course, this was happening around Christmas so there were holidays to take into consideration. I got my report in January and a month later finally got my passport stamped. In spite of my frustration at times, it was well worth it and I am so happy to be a "local" now!!!

 Next step, build a house on Atiu. How hard can that be? ha ha ha

When she first told me about her yearbook entry, I found that hard to believe, until she showed me... funny how life works out sometimes.  After a few years she’ll be able to apply for Permanent Residency, I had no idea what it took to be a beach bum!

Anyway, here are a few words from the other beach bums...

Alina
This year all my classes are at the bottom of the hill which means less walking around. In the art room, there's a painting of one of my favourite bands on the wall. There's an Aleena in my form class. Looks like a good year.... (would that there was no maths class).

Tere

This is my first year at Tereora and my classes are all over the place so it's annoying when I have a class at the top, then a class at the bottom of the hill. But, my classmates are good, probably the best I've ever had. The only problem is I can't find 'em at interval and lunch. That aside, seems like a good year awaits.

Morganne

My first year at school and I love it. I'm with my two out of four best friends, (Kolina and Minona) and the teacher is on the ball, (very on the ball). The homework assignments she gives are a little hard, but I'll manage. If only I understood Maori better. I'm looking forward to the year already.

Morganne is finding some school subjects are pretty challenging, like learning how to make a broom from a coconut tree frond...

The Sunday before school was to start, (29th Jan), the kids and I had planned to do the over the island trek with a good friend, Karlene Taokia, and her daughter, Astarlii. Unfortunately the rain set in and we ended up going to a couple of beaches instead with the rest of the Taokias joining us, Mii, (Ina's mate from OMAC days and Karlene's hubby) and their two boys, Oxyon and Rocklyn. At the first beach, which is in Tikioki, Titikaveka. I swam out to the raft. When I dove back in to swim to shore, I tried to avoid this big black thing in the water, (I wasn't wearing my contacts). Just thought it was another brain coral or something. Wasn't until we went to the next beach, which was by the Queen's Representative House, that I realized it was a boil of little black fish. We watched quite a few swim by and even managed to get in the middle of a couple of them. It was kinda freaky.

Connor used his beach time to create things in the sand and Tere did the same.

The photos of Tere's didn't turn out but he made a Golum and then a sandman, (both rather creepy). Alina made a family of turtles but that photo didn't turn out too well either. Mii made a shark, which was mistaken for a plane, and his island, Aitutaki. Karlene made a spider. So, in spite of the miserable weather, we had a good Sunday afternoon. We are still planning on doing the trek but are waiting for school holidays and drier weather.

The four kids are currently learning jiujitsu from Mii. Tere and Morganne have class on Saturday afternoons and Connor and Alina have classes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. All of them love it! Alina was saying yesterday that she wished she had learnt jiujitsu when she was ten as she reckons it would have been very handy at school.

While back here in Canada things are, well... about what you would expect for this time of year

Anyways, it’s my last night in camp and the good news is a week from now, I’ll be with my family in New Zealand for my nephews wedding and my Dads unveiling... can’t come soon enough for me...

Nuff said...

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