See you soon...

Can you believe that 2 years ago, we were setting off on our big adventure or big OE (Overseas Experience) as they call it here? We have enjoyed our experiences over here tremendously and would like to thank all of our readers out there for following our blogging updates throughout the years. We have greatly enjoyed our ability to update everyone with our adventures through our blog site. We will be posting updates during our 7 week adventure, but it won't be on a daily basis like we have tried to do here at times. Please keep an eye on the blog for updates.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone back in the US in a little under 2 months.

But, it's with great sadness that we leave both PwC and Hudson as well as this wonderful place that they call Aotearoa (The Long White Cloud). Take care everyone and see you soon.

Our little plants have a new home

While we have been here, we have had the great pleasure of owning 4 plants. Unfortunately the first summer we were here, we had a tragic loss and one of the plants died from lack of water while we were travelling. Despite losing her, we have been able to keep three plants alive and well and have watched them grown a great deal while we've lived here.

Tonight a new chapter in their lives has started as they have moved to live with Stephen and Deon on the first floor of Viaduct Point (our building). We think they will be very happy with their new owners and we look forward to getting updates as they continue to grow.

Stephen and Deon also decided to take something else off of our shoulders and buy our BBQ. If you remember back to mid-May 2007 we searched long and hard for a BBQ and finally found one that we were very happy with.

Tomorrow will be our leaving drinks which we are having for both PwC and Hudson. They will be held at Cargo Bar in the Viaduct which is a new bar that has recently opened replacing the Loaded Hog.

Farewell Dinner with the Jameses

Today started off with a jolt as we slept through our alarms, waking up suddenly at 7:30. We were able to shower and change and be out the door within 30 minutes which was a good record for us.

Our evening was much more relaxing as Deon and Steve (who are in NZ on secondment from the PwC office in Hartford) wanted to take us to dinner to say goodbye. Steve is off to a work training so he'll miss our leaving drinks on Thursday night. They very generously treated us to a wonderful dinner at Mikano, a restaurant on the harbor. We stuffed ourselves with appetisers, main courses and desserts. Then Steve and Deon gave us a bag filled with NZ treats like Tim Tams, Pineapple Lumps and Crunchy bars that we will take home with us. We really enjoyed sharing our last 6 months in NZ with Steve and Deon and will miss them a lot! They will be here for another year and a half, so be sure to check out their blog: http://onlyinnewzealand.blogspot.com/

When we got home from the feast, Jeremy had a very nice message on his phone from another one of our friends, Nate. Nate is here from the Pittsburgh office (and mad that I've converted from a Steelers to a Patriots fan) for two years. He'll miss our farewell party as he's off to Samoa for work tomorrow morning. We have enjoyed spending the past 6 months with Nate and will miss him a lot too. Check out his blog for some more NZ adventures: http://2yearsinkiwiland.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow is our third to last day of work which is hard to believe. Tomorrow night is our "free" night but it is our chance to pack our bags for travelling, so we will definitely be busy!

Last Working Monday

Today marked the last Monday that we have to go to work for a couple of months. What a nice day. It was also our 6th to last day in Auckland, which was very sad. Our final set of visas arrived, so we are all good to enter into Vietnam. We were getting nervous as the departure is very soon, so I was happy to receive that mail at work today!

I also had my last personal training session at the gym tonight. I was very sad to say goodbye to Jaimee as she's been a great trainer for the past year. I will miss her in Boston and will be looking to hire a sarcastic Aussie trainer if anyone knows one! :) She made me finish off the session with my least favorite exercise, but I promised to do a set for her when her baby arrives in a few months. I told her I would do the number of repetitions equal to her baby's weight. I'm hoping for a 5 pound baby!

Jeremy finished his workday with drinks with one of the partners he works with. I met up for dinner with Michelle who is Jeremy's coworker and our friend from California. She won't be around on Thursday night for our work farewell drinks, so she invited me to dinner which was very nice. We indulged on huge pasta dishes and red wine. Jeremy met up with us towards the end of the meal as well.

Tomorrow is another busy day for us. I have my last Integrity Selling training session at work and then we are off to dinner with Steve and Deon tomorrow night. Our friends are definitely keeping us busy in our last few days. Wednesday will be our night for packing!

Send us back to the US

We can't believe that we've been living here for 2 years and the time has come for us to say goodbye. Although we are very excited, it's also very sad. We had a very busy weekend which started on Friday evening with a dinner at Jackie and Jerry's house. They live in Birkenhead which is north of the city. We picked up a bottle of wine and some beers and headed up to their place. (As we've sold our car, we are currently borrowing Brian and Di's VW Polo) We had a lot of fun with Jackie/Jerry and Jackie made a great Green Curry.

Saturday was filled with cleaning and some last minute shopping. We also spent a bit of time preparing for the evening festivities which included a party at our place with a US theme. There were many purposes for this party but one of the primary ones was to finish our alcohol. We asked everyone to come wearing red, white, and blue and the rule was if you didn't come with those colours on, that you would have to eat a Wheetbix (NZ cereal bar) without any liquid as fast as you can. These bars are very dry and the challenge is to see if you can do it in under 60 seconds. Needless to say, all 16 people at the party tried the challenge (although most everyone was wearing all three colours), but no one was able to do it in under 60 seconds.

There were 4 key drinks which we had ingredients for (Horny Bull, Dark 'n Stormy, Cape Codder, and Gin Chiller). We also had some Jack Daniels (straight shots) and Bailey's (mixed with vanilla ice-cream). Erin had done a great job decorating and preparing some very tasty snacks for all the guests. We stayed at our place until around midnight and then headed into the Viaduct to a couple of bars.

Sunday we did a little more shopping and more cleaning. At night we went to dinner at Brian and Di's house up in Forrest Hill. We brought Matthew an overdue Birthday present and ordered some takeaway food. A very fun night with a lot of very funny stories.

Our last full weekend in Auckland is coming to a close and we are about to begin our final week of work. Stay tuned for more updates throughout our last week in NZ.

La Clique

Tonight we joined Kevin Martin, our friend from BU's study abroad program for La Clique, which is part of the Auckland Festival that is going on right now. The is described as a fusion of cabaret, new burlesque, circus sideshow and contemporary vaudeville. It was amazing!

Kevin had invited us and 7 other people who are supporters of the BU program in New Zealand. Kevin coordinates the study abroad here and arranges internships for students while they are studying. Last year, Jeremy arranged for one of the students to work at PwC. I had also been in contact with Kevin when we first arrived and was looking for a job. He has become a good friend to us, so it was sad to say goodbye. He does make it to Boston every so often, so we hope to see him on one of his visits!

The show was a mix of magic, acrobatics, singing, dancing and many other things. We sat at a booth towards the back of the room - thankfully as they picked on people who were up close! We would recommend the show if it comes to your area anytime soon.

Snooker & St. Patrick's Day

Today is St. Patrick's Day over here in New Zealand and like St. Patty's day anywhere, it's celebrated pretty big. We didn't have the day off which was a bummer, but oh well. I was able to share a couple of beers quickly at a pub and was able to convince the bartender that she should give me a really cool Guinness t-shirt.

Later on it was off to Ponsonby Pool Hall for a little Snooker. Since arriving here in NZ I've learned about the game of Snooker which is similar to pool, but played on a table which is much larger and has much smaller balls. Since hearing about it, I've been speaking with Phil about playing and finally we were able to get a time booked on the calendar. Phil's wife Lyndsay and Paul from Scotland were there as well as Erin. I was able to figure out the rules and played alright, but the rules are more than I want to write about on here, so please click on the link above for a little summary of the game written by wikipedia of course.

We have a couple pictures which were taken on my camera and I will load them tomorrow so stay tuned.

Busy Bees

Our last few weeks in Boston were very busy as we prepared to move to NZ two years ago. Well, things are pretty much the same as we prepare to move home! On Tuesday of this week, we enjoyed a delicious dinner with friends at the top restaurant in Auckland, The French Cafe.

Wednesday night was a night of culture with our friends who are in the the "Culture Vultures" group we are part of. It was our last outing with the group, so they will be busy recruiting two replacements to try out some more fun things in Auckland. We enjoyed a dinner of Thai food followed by ice cream cones before taking in Circus Oz, an acrobatics show. The night was a good way to end our time with the other Culture Vultures.

On Thursday Jeremy had a work event and I hitched a ride with Deon and Steve to the super market. It's not a big deal walking there, but the weather hasn't been too great the last couple of days, so the ride was much appreciated!

Last night we celebrated a pre-St. Patrick's day at our Irish friends Paula and James' house. We BBQ'd tons of food and played PIG on the neighbor's mini basketball court. Again, another fun night!

Jeremy is off at a beer festival today and I've been sorting through our goods to prepare for when the packers arrive in two weeks. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate in just a couple of years. I'm happy I started this weekend too, as I only made it through the kitchen today. Hopefully I'll be more productive tomorrow!

Car-less

The big news for this blog is the fact that our car has been sold!!! It was an exciting Friday as there were a couple inquiries regarding our car that came through on Thursday evening. After speaking with one of them, he had an interest in viewing the car on Friday, so I came home and met him. A little under 2 hours ago, I was back in the office without a car. It was exciting to sell it and the fact that we sold it for only a little under we advertised it for, but it was also sad to realise that we no longer had a means for transportation. We celebrated our sale with a bottle of bubbles!

Saturday was not a very busy day, but we did make it to the gym and went to a number of stores throughout the city looking for some final Kiwiana things to purchase. We also went to the fish market and bought some snapper. Erin was able to cook up a nice meal for the evening as well.

Today was a relaxing day and included a trip to the gym as well as the grocery store. Although it was a little more difficult as we had to walk and carry our food home. In the afternoon we hitched a ride with Jennifer from PwC down to Drury where we went to an engagement party. Emma from PwC is currently working in Vancouver and got engaged to her boyfriend Tim while in Canada. They have come home for a visit and had a little party at her parents house. It was good to see them and a fun afternoon.

Ouch - shots!

To prepare for our move and trip to Asia, we have many things to do. This morning we had a doctor's appointment to determine which vaccinations we need for our travels. We were given a DPT vaccination and also a blood test. The blood test will be used to see what other things we are/are not immune to. The results will come out on Friday - hopefully we don't have to get any more shots, our arms are sore! We also received a prescription for malaria pills. We will take the pills two days before entering Cambodia (our first "malaria risk" stop) and then for a month following that. As much work as it is to prepare, we are happy to do anything to avoid getting sick.

We were also very pleased to receive our Chinese visitors visas today! After they arrived, we tackled the paperwork for Cambodia and shipped those documents off. With our short time frame, we are hoping everything works out! To celebrate that we received our first of three required visas for our trip, we went out to dinner. Even though the visa is for China, we ended up at a Japanese restaurant. The food was delicious and we enjoyed a nice view of Auckland's harbour while we ate. We tried some new things including snapper sashimi and ostrich carpaccio. We are really looking to tasting even more delicious things in the coming weeks!

We also posted our car for sale! We will be sad to say goodbye to our reliable friend, but will be happy to pass it on to someone else who is as eager to tour New Zealand as we were (or someone who is willing to pay what we are asking for that matter!) Here is the ad for our car on TradeMe, which is New Zealand's equivalent to eBay: Holden Vectra for Sale. If you know anyone in New Zealand who is looking to buy a car, please send this along to them!

Stumps, Overs, Bails, Wickets, Bowling

What do all those terms mean? They all refer to the 16th century sport called Cricket.

Tonight I played in my first Cricket match and it was a lot of fun. I play on a PwC team who plays against other business teams in Auckland. We've had 2 games so far in the season, but I have been busy on the other days so wasn't able to attend. It was a great night and we WON!

We scored 162 runs and they only scored 100.

OK I'll give you a few details about the game...if you're interested.

• There's various kinds of games (20/20 cricket, 1 day test, 5 day test matches, etc.)
• 6 balls (pitches) per over (20/20 means that there are 20 overs)
• The wickets (stumps) are the 3 sticks at each end of the pitch (bowling lane)
• The Bails sit on top of the wickets
• If you hit the ball and it rolls over the outer circle you get 4 runs
• If you hit the ball and it goes over the outer circle in the air you get 6 runs
• When you hit the ball, you get as many runs as times you can run back and forth

Our PwC games have some similar rules, but it is co-ed and you have to have at least 2 females on the field for each game. There are 8 ball per over and only 14 overs per game.

Not sure if you guys got any of that, but please let me know what kind of questions you have and I can answer.

Derby Day

We had high hopes for this weekend being a busy one, but heavy rain and wind on Saturday caused all of the events we planned to attend to be cancelled. Fortunately, The Auckland Cup was only postponed a day, so we were able to enjoy a sun filled afternoon today cheering on our favorite horses. We had a fun day at Derby Day (or Darby Day as it is pronounced here.) We bet on four races and won three times! It was a lucky day for us. They also had a fashion show with some of the ladies’ showing off their own Derby Day designs.

The rest of our weekend was filled with housekeeping tasks. Because we only have four weeks remaining in New Zealand, we are busy preparing for our return home. We washed a took photos of our car so that we can put it up for sale, planned more of our trip to Asia and Germany, and spent some time taking in some views in the city from a little hideaway we found across the harbor from our house.

As we drove back home tonight a song came on the radio: Massachusetts by, the Bee Gees. We found the lyrics rather fitting but the timing of the song…a coincidence??

Feel I'm going back to Massachusetts
Something's telling me I must go home
And the lights all went out in Massachusetts
The day I left her standing on her own