I'm on a train

Hello, everyone! I'm finally getting around to posting some photos from a train trip we took last week with Chris's parents on the Taieri Gorge Railway. This is a little four hour roundtrip train ride that takes you from Dunedin to Pukerangi in Central Otago, a very comfy way to see some nice scenery that is not accessible by car.

I rarely travel by train except during our visits to Europe -- train service is not very extensive in New Zealand and like most Americans I hardly ever used Amtrak -- but this reminded how much I like it. I like that you can stretch your legs, take in the scenery, buy some snacks and drinks, eavesdrop on the other people in your car. Not a bad way to go.

Caboose view

Chris and Maria enjoying the ride. We had the car to ourselves except for some very nice folks from Invercargill who could fairly be described as "rednecks." If there is anything I have learned in my travels: The accents may change, but rednecks are rednecks wherever you go.

Zach's first train ride. He was not so impressed by the scenery but definitely enjoyed the rocking motion, which lulled him to sleep almost instantly and kept him that way for most of the trip.

Butch documenting me documenting Butch

View from the window

Taieri River

Baby on the platform. He looks oddly at home here.

In other news, we had LOTS of snow yesterday, to the point that Zach and I were pretty much homebound and Chris went to work only because he walked as usual. Snow in June still boggles the mind, don't you think? Anyway, I took some pictures of the snow but still have trouble with uploading from our new camera without Chris's technical help. (I know, I'm hopeless.) So I'll work on that, but in the meantime picture us in a wintery wonderland.

Why, hello again!

Man. Where has the last month gone? (Answer: Feed, change diaper, sleep. Repeat.)

Zach is nearly six weeks old and absolutely perfect and gorgeous, as usual. He's getting HUGE and is in the 85th percentile for his age group in length and weight. A year ago, if someone told me their kid was in a particular percentile of anything I'd be like, "So what?" However, now that it's my kid and I'm the one who's feeding him, I find it terribly interesting.

We had a fantastic four week visit with my mom, and are now enjoying Chris's folks. I will say that having a baby in a foreign country makes you really appreciate your family. It's kind of weird -- on one hand, I've never been more disgustingly homesick and ready to stowaway on the first plane back to North America. On the other hand, so many nice people here in Dunedin have popped up to welcome Zach and make things easier for us that I have never felt more at home since we arrived here. It's a pretty complex situation. Lots of tears, both joyful and sad, and sometimes it's hard to tell which is which.

But enough of all of that. Let's look at some pictures. More are available on Chris's Flickr site; if you don't know how to find that and you want to see, let me know.

With Chris's folks in Moeraki. We went to Christchurch last weekend so Chris could run the marathon and Maria could run the 10k, and stopped in Moeraki on the way back to see the boulders. It's fun to remember that we did this race last year and unbelievable how much things have changed in the meantime.

Chris & Maria at the finish line. Zach is under the plastic tarp, bundled up in aboug 40 layers like the little brother from "A Christmas Story." Winter in Christchurch = Cold!

And now for some random Zach photos that I find amusing:

Touchdown!

He loves, loves, loves the bath. He can be screaming his head off and then Chris puts him in the water and his whole body just relaxes and his eyes get all big. We need to take him to the swimming pool soon.

It's just cute. That's my kid.

Karitane

Okay, so I was wrong. 1) We have not lost the camera; and 2) We do have new pictures besides the dogs. Sunday night, some new friends invited us to a little dinner party in Karitane, a pretty little coastal village about a half hour north of Dunedin. Before gorging ourselves silly on a delicious dinner and enormous pieces of lemon meringue pie, we took a little hike ("tramp") along the coast. So it was all good. Here are the pics:

Karitane coast

Long view of the track

Blow hole. A little sign nearby indicated that two star-crossed Maori lovers committed suicide on this site a long time ago because their families wouldn't allow them to be together. Seems a bit drastic to me, but makes the place extra interesting.

Dusk

Who is the cutest husband ever?

Yup, that's me.

Some fun, some mishaps.

Devoted reader Elizabeth (aka "Mrs. Fox" or "Foxy E") asked for an update on Chris's first Kiwi birthday, which passed Sept. 3 without any mention on this blog. I have been off my blogging game.

I don't want to speak for Chris, but we had a great evening at Scotia, a swanky restaurant here in town. Food was good, and the birthday boy took full advantage of its excellent whisky bar. On Friday, the people from his office went to happy hour to celebrate Chris's birthday and two others. Lots of Virgo statisticians, apparently.

That brings us to this weekend, which has FINALLY been sunny and beautiful and perfect walking around temperatures. So yesterday we decided to go for a little day hike to enjoy the weather and give the puppies some exercise. It started out well enough.

Chris in the bush

This crazy tree that has paper-thin bark. I don't know what they're called but they're really pretty.

View of Dunedin from about halfway up the track (Otago Harbor is barely visible in the distance)

Then we came to a little clearing where we planned to stop for a snack. And we came across about five sheep that had wandered on to the track from the adjacent farm. And all hell broke loose. Before you could blink, Livy was chasing all five sheep through the bush, off the track, straight down the hill. I literally had to grab a tree to avoid being knocked over. Owen, I'm proud to say, was on leash at the time and handled it all in relative stride.

For the next 30 minutes, Chris and I wandered back down the track, shouting for our badly-behaved dog to no avail. We later admitted that we had both written Livy's doggie obituary in our heads, guessing she had fallen off of a steep track perhaps met her fate with an angry sheep farmer. It was not a fun half hour. Then, finally, Chris saw her little orange body slowly staggering up the hillside. Much to our relief, she was not covered in blood (dog or sheep), nor was she injured in any other way. And as much as I was REALLY mad at her, it was hard not to laugh a little at her stupid, delerious dog grin. Aside from being in trouble with us, I'm pretty sure it was the happiest day of her life.

Older. Crazier.

Every now and then, something happens that reminds me that we are veering, full-speed and out of control, toward middle age. We're not there yet. We are an unusually youthful and adventurous (immature and in denial, the haters might say) 30-something couple. We rock pretty hard, most days. But we're on our way.

Chris bought be a present this weekend. It was a vacuum. I don't know what is scarier: 1) that he decided to buy me a new vacuum as a nice gesture; or 2) that I was so thrilled you'd have thought he brought me diamonds. You see, most vacuums in New Zealand, including the first one we got, are these very wimpy things with flat, non-rotating heads. They are no match for two slobbery, mud-tracking long-haired dogs. Then yesterday Chris came home with a heavy, super-suction model that has a million awesome attachments and roars like a grizzly bear. The rest of the afternoon went like this:

Me (shoving the vacuum filter under Chris's nose): Look! LOOK at all of that dog hair and dust that the other vacuum wasn't getting!!!

Chris (not looking up from his laptop): Mmm.

Me: No, really! Look! That's like, an inch of dust! That was in the carpet! I'm going to be sick!

Chris: Mmm.

Me: This is the most fun! Awesome!!! Best present EVER!!! Woo hoo!!!

Scary, huh?

In other news, I made Carolina-style pork barbeque in the crockpot and some coleslaw today. Baked beans and potato chips. Beer. Apple cobbler for dessert. Yes, this is a butt-widening, stroke-inducing, nutrient-deprived pile of deliciousness, but I had been planning and dreaming about it all week as my Sunday treat. Totally worth it. The heart wants what it wants.

Pineapple Track Tramp

People spend a lot of time talking about the fact that New Zealand is an unusually beautiful place. They're right. For such a small country there is a ridiculous amount of scenery and outdoor activity. Beaches, mountains, vineyards, rolling green hills, farmland, geysers ... Whatever floats your boat. We have great intentions to get out and see every inch of it, but so far our round-the-globe trip has left us with limited time and resources to do much traveling within New Zealand.

Luckily, there are a lot of great tramping tracks ("tramping" = Kiwispeak for "hiking") right around Dunedin. The weather was awesome this afternoon so we packed up the dogs and hit the Pineapple Track, which amazingly is only about a five minute drive from our house. As you can see, there was lots of snow on the track as we ascended to the top. The dogs were in heaven.

Start of the track

Pretty stuff

Mountain man

More pretty stuff

Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula

Mmmm. Snacks at the top.

Don't I look outdoorsy?

As you can see, Owen was completely mesmerized by this snowman. Owen is very lucky to be so cute because he would not get very far on brains alone.

Out and about

First week of work went well.

Here is the view from my office (yes, the window is a bit dirty):

View continued

My rather naked-looking office. I need some books, or something.

My building from the outside:

Some campus shots. Chris's building is just a two-minute walk in this direction, so we will be able to get lunch and whatnot.

We went to the market this morning and got a bunch of bread and meat and cheese and veggies. Here is Christopher:

The Cadbury factory is right in the center of town. The nice thing about having a Cadbury factory is you can buy those Cadbury Easter eggs all year round. Treat!

That's about it for pictures for the time being. What else?

The weather has been absolutely insane, ranging from sunny and so warm you don't need a coat (Thursday) to sunny but cold (Friday morning) to rainy and cold (Friday noon) to sunny and cold again (Friday early afternoon) to hail (Friday late afternoon) to snow (overnight) and back to sunny and nice (Saturday afternoon, as I write this). In the past I have gotten annoyed by people who want to talk about the weather all of the time and secretly thought that these people really need a hobby, but suddenly living here I am totally obsessed with the weather and completely at its mercy.

What else, what else ... I saw an older Maori guy at my gym this week who had the full facial tattoos, which apparently are called ta moko. I'd seen full-face tats on TV but this was the first time I'd seen somebody wearing them in person and let me tell you, it is trippy. I was trying not to stare at the guy but this is just not something you see in Georgia. I really wanted to ask him if that tats mean something, or if they're just decorative, but I was a little intimidated to talk to a guy with full-face tats while he was lifting heavy weights. So I just came home and looked up Maori tattooing on Wikipedia. I know. I'm a wuss.

Woo hoo!

After all of the complaining I did yesterday about the weather, look what happened:


Yes, I know that's kind of a shadowy and sinister blue sky, but it's really hard to take a picture into the sun with my little digital camera. It's still sun! And blue sky! And not only that, but as I type this Dunedin and the surrounding region are the only places in the entire country that are not under severe storm watch. I was so excited I took some more pictures around town.

Road leading to our house (same shadow-y problem, but you get the idea)

The Octagon in downtown Dunedin (no raincoats or umbrellas!)

St. Paul's Cathedral downtown

The citizens of Dunedin can rest easy tonight, knowing that any violent weather-related tendencies I may harbor are subdued.

In other news, I am now not starting work until next Monday. (Kind of long story, but I really do have a job. Honest.) I'll keep you posted.

Grey Days

Hello, my lovely readers! What has been going on this week, you ask? Let's see ...

• Rain, drizzle, overcast skies, and more of the same. The sun came out for about 20 minutes last Thursday, so the dogs and I promptly ran outside for a nice walk. It was raining again by the time we got home. The optimist in me says that those 20 minutes are better than nothing. The pessimist in me says that if I don't see the sun again soon, I'm going to cut somebody.
• Work. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
• High-brow cinema. The Dunedin Film Festival began Friday, and it could not have come at a better time, weather-wise. Chris and I each bought a pass and spent Saturday and Sunday afternoon holed up in the movie theatre.

Before we sign off, let's wish a very happy birthday to devoted readers Laura, who celebrates today, and Kristina, who celebrated while we were still in Tokyo. You keep getting better with age, you fine ladies!

Progress.

The week has zipped by. A recap for my devoted readers:

1) Professional development. It looks like I have found some work doing legal research for a new center (centre) at the university. I'm meeting with the dean again next week to talk about it further, but it sounds like they'll have me starting in mid-July. The work sounds super interesting, and I hope it will be a good opportunity to learn more about the NZ legal system and get to know some folks without taking the plunge just yet to get certified to practice law.

What does the certification process entail, you ask? I keep avoiding this topic because it is rather dry reading, and because it gives me an ulcer, but since you asked: I am told that it is six classes for most foreign lawyers -- mostly first-year foundation classes like property, contracts, blah blah blah. BUT technically there is no clear set standard that applies to everybody, and each foreign lawyer simply has to submit their credentials to the council that oversees foreign lawyers with a $1200 application fee. No, $1200 is not a typo. Yes, that's just the fee for them to tell you exactly what classes they want you to take -- not tuition. I'm told that a few very hardcore foreign lawyers who go to school full-time have gotten certified in a year, but most people take about two years. Ulcer.

2) Social development. I had two lunch dates this week with people I met at a luncheon for women lawyers, so it has been fun to meet some new folks. Yesterday I hung out with this really hilarious Australian lawyer who introduced me to several of her friends, also lawyers. (My K&S readers may be interested to know that based on this limited exposure, I have concluded that lawyers around the world basically complain about the same things ...)

3) Physical development. Yoga is the only thing that consistently helps my back pain. I took a long-overdue level-one iyengar class this week and have concluded that Kiwis practice a very sadistic form of yoga. My back now feels great but every other muscle in my body feels like it has been pummeled with a cricket bat.

Also, after much searching, the dogs and I discovered a really awesome dog park hidden less than a mile from our house. It's huge and it's got some short walking trails and bush areas within the fenced area that they've enjoyed exploring. By the time we walk up there, play, and walk back, they are blissfully passed out for the rest of the day.

4) Marital development. Chris and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary this week on the 19th. (Woo hoo! I love you, honey!) We celebrated on the 19th, but since technically it was the 20th in NZ on the day we got married, we dragged out the celebration an extra day. Gotta love the international date line. I fully plan to have two-day celebrations for all birthdays, holidays and anniversaries in the future.

5) Cultural development. We're about to go on a big trip. This post is already getting way too long and chatty, so I will write another one in the next day or two to tell you all about it. I'm way excited.

I miss you guys!

Snow Day!

Woke up this morning to snow! It all melted by about 1 pm, but it was pretty. It seems unreal that it was 90 degrees F in Atlanta yesterday.

View from our living room window

Dusted backyard

Owen enjoying the snow while fleeing from the camera.

On a little walk. This isn't a great picture but I love the hills behind our neighborhood ...

Primary school near our house