Aint no party like a Scranton party. . .

. . . but having a birthday party here wasn't so bad. Actually, I had a great weekend. I talked to the whanau (the moari word for family and close friends - the wh is pronounced like an f) - to mom and dad, Amy, Di, and Mindy. Tina sent me a package with coffee from Zekes and Swiss Cake Rolls that tasted like they'd travelled halfway around the world. I didn't get a chance to take any photos of the Little Debbie snacks - I ate them so quickly I got a stomach ache. Thank you everyone for calling me and thinking of me- it was great to be able to catch up!

On this side of the world, I had a party Friday night. It's spring here so we had a barbeque and a fire. here are some photos from the party - I had every intention of taking a lot of pics so i could post them, but I got so easily distracted that I kept forgetting about documenting the night. I guess I'll have to use Amy's quote on why she doesn't take lots of photos, "I don't take pictures of life - I live it."
Kathy was the first guest to arrive and one of the last guests to leave. She made a giant chocolate cake (my chocolate cake recipe) and there was enough left over for me to have a decent size piece with my coffee the next morning. It was a win win - win situation.
Celene and Janet
Me, Avon, and Andrea

I tried to upload a video of me blowing out my candles, but an error kept happening. And, since my knowledge of fixing computers is limited to right-clicking, I don't know what to do except wait and try again and maybe it will decide to work.
After everyone left, I couldn't go to sleep. I felt like a little kid - too excited and happy to go to sleep.I didn't mind being by myself because I was so happy and overwhelmed by the amazing friends I have. I started cleaning and was just content to think about the night and how in about 7 months of living here, I know so many great people, who are all really nice. I stayed up until about 2 in the morning after everyone had left.

Saturday - my actual birthday was very laidback. I finished cleaning the house, went to the gym. talked to the fam (the What About Bob word for family and close friends), then went to Celene's house for a birthday dinner. I brought leftover cake - since I had 5 birthday cakes. Then we headed over to another friend's place and watched a movie.
Me - the birthday girl, Celene, Alice, and Heather

By the way - I'll be moving again in a couple of weeks. I'm moving in with Celene and two other people. I wasn't planning on moving at all, because I love where I live, but I have the opportunity to live right on the beach. If you look at the photo of us at the dinner table, look out the window, and you'll see my front yard. I don't know how much loonger I'll be in the country, so I figured that I better take the opportunity to live beach side while I have the chance.

On Sunday, I met up with more friends and we went kayaking.i've only used a sea kayak once before so I thought I knew what I was doing. I also have used the flat ocean kayaks at Hatteras so I thought I'd be great in this long kayak. The guy pulling the yellow kayak, Matt, used to be in the British Special forces - he's got some Jack Bauer stories - but I don't think I can post them.>
Kevin is helping me get back into the kayak after I rolled over twice in the white water. I forgot that these kayaks have pedals so I wasn't using them to steer and I kept going sideways into the waves.
I finally got out past the breakers, was using the pedals to steer the rudder and was feeling pretty good about myself. I was talking to Secret Agent Man and all of a suddent, I rolled my kayak again, but this time in calm water. I don
t know how I managed to do that, but Matt and Avon managed to get the water out of the kayak and me back in the kayak in deep water while not rolling over. .
What an amazing weekend, filled with conversations from home and with gatherings and experiences with new friends. God - thank you for this life, for the opportunity to know absolutely amazing people all over the world - may I never take it for granted. To quote from Di's blog, "...no man is a failure who has friends."

Is anyone here a marine biologist?

Two weeks ago there was a beached whale across the street from our house. So, my flatmate Hilary and I took off in the morning to see it. It came in on the tide and the poor orca had to wait until the tide came back in. So, volunteers were carrying buckets of water to pour on her to keep her wet and they covered her with blankets and towels to keep the moisture in.



I went back over at about 2:30 and the tide was in. The whale had started floating in the shallow water. It took about 15 minutes before she swam off. There were hundreds of people watching from the beach and from the dunes. When the whale took off into the sea, the beach erupted in cheers and clapping. It was very moving - seeing such a huge creature come back to life and go out to sea. I was a little disappointed with myself because instead of thinking deep thoughts about the fragility of life, the only thing I could think about was the Seinfeld episode when George has to pretend that he's a marine biologist. The entire time I was watching from the beach, I just wanted to call out, "Is anyone here a marine biologist?" I half expected to see the whale expert who was present for our whale to come out of the water with a golf ball - but it didn't happen.