Diwali henna tattoos

A few of you were interested in seeing the henna tattoos which were done at the kids' school in honour of the Diwali Festival of the Lights.
So, courtesy of their school, enjoy! Above is one of the tattoos being done.
The festival itself is a five-day celebration by the Indian community, which involves fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, special meals, dancing, new clothes, togetherness, and worship.
It celebrates the inner lightness in all of us, the triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness.
Generally women and girl get henna tattoos as part of the celebration, and some wonderful Indian women came to the school to show us how it was done. They collected gold coin donations in return, and gave the lot to the Samoan Tsunami appeal, which I thought was lovely.
Many of the boys lined up for tattoos too. This is actually C's paw being painted.

And this is a typical tattoo for girls.

After a while the hand/arms are washed and a red/orange outline remains. It usually lasts for at least a few days, about a week.

There's a big Indian community in Auckland, and it was wonderful to get an insight into their rich culture.

Awake in Auckland (with apologies to Sleepless In Seattle...)

What a week to leave my camera at home!
I took a walk up to SkyCity the other day to meet some peeps from twitter. It was great to meet people I’ve been tweeting with on and off since we moved here.
So there we were enjoying a fairly uninspired coffee, when the fire alarm went off. Everyone ignored it for a while, as you do, but the alarm continued followed by a disembodied voice announcing something indecipherable.
The unconcerned wait staff continued to serve meals and drinks, as the convenience store closed and the entire kitchen staff assembled outside - chef hats and all.
Five fire engines arrived, followed by burly firemen carrying hoses and other gear (give me a minute here ...sigh!)
Finally, we called a waitress over and asked if we were being evacuated.
“No not yet,” she said, before handing us the bill and suggesting we might like to pay it now, just in case we did have to make a run for it.
Er, yes, there might be a fire or bomb in the building; your kitchen staff have been told to leave; but yes, let's just make sure the punters pay for their coffees before they all DIE or something. Service FAIL!
Stupidly, I didn't have my camera, so I missed capturing the whole debacle for your pleasure.
We paid up anyway (humph), and left, and then @wendywings introduced me to another reason to visit Auckland, Giapo.
Giapo is the founder of Giapo Gelati, the yummiest icy treat in Auckland. He’s also a keen twitterer and uses social media in his marketing. You can even twitter in his shop, and of course, wi fi is de rigueur.
Anyway, the occasion was World Chocolate Day with every flavour of gelato involving chocolate of some kind. There was white chocolate and raspberry, strawberry chocolate, orange chocolate, black forest and more.
For $10 one could enjoy as many cups as one’s stomach could handle.I tried the giapo rocher and moccacino before giving up in a nod to my waistline. Mmmm, it was delicious though.
Finally, the kids and I arrived home from school this afternoon, to find a commercial being shot right outside our townhouse. In fact, the model was posing on the window sill outside our home office!
The kids hung around upstairs peering over the balcony with interest and watching the scene unfold, and occasionally calling out to the crew below. The crew were lovely and I even managed to get a quick snap before they left:

In other news, Husband has been away for work again.

I've managed to cope quite well, despite having two little bodies in bed with me most nights. Sadly, C. takes after his Mum, and is a very noisy sleeper, talking, moaning, sighing and generally throwing himself around the bed half the night. The second child spends the night at the bottom of the bed, cuddling ... my foot! (I know...)

For his part, Husband hasn't been sleeping well either, having to cope with a four-hour time difference as well as steamy weather and long hours. Then there was a red-eye flight, crammed into an economy Qantas seat next to a snoring guy who was twice the size of him.

I can't wait until he gets home - Husband, not the snoring guy - and things return to normal. And then maybe, we'll all get some sleep!

A little light in a dark world

The kids looked cute this morning as they set off for school. Students and teachers dressed up in holiday gear, as a fundraiser for the victims of the tsunami in Samoa.
What a great cause!
There were jandals (thongs), lava lavas (colourful sarong-like cloth), swimmers, flowers, and leis all round.
Of course, all this had a serious side too, and the kids all donated towards the cause of helping Samoans rebuild and recover from their tragedy.
Speaking of which, we’ve decided to take our holiday next month. The Samoan tourism people have asked travellers to keep their holiday plans, with tourism tipped to play a big part of the country’s recovery.
Yes, there may be some inconvenience, and we will probably see some terrible sights and hear horrific stories. People have pointed out that the holiday may not be as ‘good’ as before, with grieving locals too busy or sad to pamper visitors, or some areas off-limits or destroyed. But that’s nothing at all compared to what these people have gone through. If we can help in some small way by keeping our plans, and getting some of our meagre funds flowing into the community, we’re happy to. In fact, we are looking forward to visiting Samoa more than ever.
To be honest, I think it will be a good education for the kids, and a reminder to all of us to be thankful for our good fortune, and sympathetic and empathetic to those in need.
On a happier note, a few lovely Indian Mums visited school this week, to talk about Diwali, the Festival of the Lights.
After eating and drinking their way around Auckland Viaduct’s version of the festival on the weekend, the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands decorated with henna tattoos.
According to Diwali tradition, the tattoos symbolise blessings that light up the soul. They are traditionally for females, but quite a few of the boys, including Mr 8, clamoured to have their hands decorated too!
I wish I could post a photo, but I’m still waiting for a cable to upload photos from my camera to my computer. Dang technology!
Instead, let me leave you with a bit of fun from the Tourism Paeora people. Kiwis have a great sense of humour, and I’m often left chortling at advertising campaigns.
This one, like L & P softdrink (diet of course), hits the spot!
http://www.youtube.com/tourismpaeroa#p/a

Spring shivers, and the Fiasco of the Week!

It is with cold fingers that I type that there has been a return to frosty mornings, dark skies, and icy rain in Auckland recently. In fact, so far, spring has been more like winter than, er, winter.
In spite of that, we’ve managed to make the best of it.
Last weekend, Missy and I braved the elements to walk up the hill and into central Auckland for the annual Blessing Of The Animals.
Held in a gorgeous old church, St Mattthew’s In The City, the event raises funds and awareness of the work of the SPCA (New Zealand’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
It’s a cliché, but all creatures great and small converged on the cathedral – dogs, cats, goats, rabbits, mice, rats, donkeys and even a bull!
We were warmly welcomed, and the presence of the animals gave the service a festive feel.
I’ve never had my butt sniffed at church before, but there’s a first time for everything! And Missy fell in love with a fluffy Samoyed, who kept howling along with the hymns. By the time we left, Miss 6 had a blotchy red face and streaming eyes and noses, thanks to an allergy to the friendly pup – but she still couldn’t resist bringing home a fist of his fur. (Which I later vacuumed up, accidentally on purpose. Shhh! Don’t tell!)
Then this weekend, we went to the Diwali Festival, the annual Festival of the Lights. The Auckland Viaduct was like a little slice of India with colourful stalls, delicious food and drinks, and loads of entertainment.
The kids had a few days at vacation care each week, while I caught up on work, but we also had lots of fun swimming, rollerskating and rock climbing. (Well the kids did the last two. Husband banned me from anything too physical, due to my predilection for falling over and breaking and/or dislocating things).
I can’t post photos, because I’m waiting for a new thingamajig to put in the wotsit on the computer, but I’ll upload them as soon as I can.
Meanwhile, in a return to the Wine of the Week, let me present Fiasco Wine’s Gee-Whizz Gewurztraminer 2008.
I was lucky enough to win a bottle recently, and wasted no time cracking it open. (My infamous Fall Up The Stairs which ended up in wedding and engagement rings being cut off was judged ‘The Fiasco Of The Week’ in a recent competition. Glad my clumsiness was good for something!)
The company describes their wine better than I ever could:
“Our Gee-Whizz was harvested with soft hands, then gently squeezed like a lover, and fermented slowly to retain the intense Fiasco flavour. We’ve had a ball getting it from vine to bottle and now it’s your turn to enjoy our wine, the one that can only be pronounced after a few glasses!”
It was delicious, cool, light and tasting just slightly of ginger, flowers and lemon. Cheers!

Beware the salami ...

The first week of the school holidays is almost over, and the kids have been having a ball.
So far, they’ve been swimming, dancing, and roller-skating (you should see the bruises). They also went ‘indoor camping’ at vacation care. Oh, and they’ve had a quiet day at home after C. was violently ill one night – from both ends. Poor kid. And poor me who had to clean up all the mess. I kept them both inside and quiet the next day as a precaution.
It’s been a sad week too, with all the natural disasters occurring around the world. The Samoan earthquake and Tsunami, in particular, hit home. As some readers know, we’ve booked a family holiday there in November. But it’s not just that. Many Samoans live in New Zealand, and have family there. And its proximity to NZ means its not just a popular holiday destination, but that Samoans are like family to this country. Quite a few Samoan kids attend our school, and I can’t help wondering what all this means for them and their families. It is unimaginable what they must be going through.
Friends have asked if we’ll still be taking our holiday, and I guess, we’ll have to wait and see. If, like the Thai people after the Boxing Day tsunami, the Samoans want foreigners to visit and help them rebuild after this tragedy, we’ll be happy to go. I just feel so sad for those who have lost family, homes, income and even the clothes on their backs, that it would be silly to worry about a holiday.
I feel doubly blessed because we had wanted to be in Samoa this week! We’d tried to book for the school holidays, but it was way too expensive, being peak period. So we waited for a better deal, even though it meant we'd have to take the kids out of school for a week. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if we had been there as we’d hoped.
On a lighter note, there have been some funny things to happen this week.
One morning, H. asked me if we were going to get salami. Yes, I told her, we’ll get one when we go shopping. “No a BIG salami,” she said. Okay, I said. We can probably get a big one. “No, a really big salami that will wash over us and take us away!” she said, all wide-eyed and concerned.
Of course, she meant tsunami, and was worried about what she’d been hearing on the news. Bless.
What was really funny, was, when the whole of New Zealand was on a tsunami alert, and some areas were being evacuated, a percentage of the Kiwi population decided to go down to the beaches and wait for it. And they say Aussies are mad! Click to see the NZ Herald's gallery of the Kiwi Tsunami-watchers ...

School's out!

School's out in New Zealand, but not after a hectic couple of weeks.
First there was the school art show - where the kids proudly displayed their work created during the term. As usual, there was a sausage sizzle, with wine and beer for the adults, and cordial for the kids.
It was great chatting to the teachers and other parents in such a relaxed atmosphere.
During the evening, teachers displayed their own art work and there was a silent auction so parents could bid on the masterpieces.
Bidding started slowly, with just $1 and $2 bids rolling in, until naughty Husband took over and started bidding in $15 and $20 increments to get things rolling. You would never have known that he used to be an auctioneer - not!
A few of the teachers were upset not to get any bids, so we put a few sympathy bids in too...and ended up picking up a painting for $10. Bargain, don't you think?
The final week of school wound up with a concert by C's class. He proved to be a dab hand on the bongo drums, and even sang the New Zealand National Anthem (I didn't even know he knew it!) H. loved applauding her brother and their friends.
The kids are growing out of their shoes and jeans, so we took them to Otara Market on the weekend. This is seriously one of the best places in Auckland to pick up cheap clothes, shoes, and ... well, pretty much anything really.
It was a pity about the weather - cold and wet - or we would have picked up some fruit and vegies too.
On Sunday, I put the kids to work, by taking them with me to see a film I'm reviewing, Ponyo.
It's so different to any other kids movies I've seen, like a storybook come to life. The kids were mesmerised and C. declared: 'It's not normally my thing, but I liked it."
Guess it will be getting the thumbs up then!


The painting we won, by the head of the junior school

One of H's pieces

And the Little Dude with another of his (he was rather prolific)!

Otara Market, where you can get just about anything - including contact lenses ...

I've always wanted a Mumu...

Big spender

Colourful stalls

Surveying the stalls

Missy and a Fluffie (babycino)

C. chose a hot dog. An American hotdog is a frankfurt in a bun. (C. looks like he's about to shove that stick up his nose. And I don't know what's wrong with Miss Crankypants! Look at the face...)

Coconut bread

Breakfast vans ... C. is wearing my jumper because he 'doesn't feel the cold). Yeah, right.

Hangi anyone?

Buon Appetito, Auckland!

This weekend, we ate our way around the Auckland Italian Festival.

Organised by the Societa Dante Alighieri, the day featured food, wine, and entertainment, and was a great way to spend a few hours of quality family time.

It was like Little Italy had come to Auckland!

Mmm ... gelati

Check out the body language! He had lemon-line, She had blood orange.

The jumping castle gave Husband and I time to scoff some divine eggplant bruschetta.

Gnocchi with lamb ragout...more please!

Pasta-making workshop

Mobile wood fired oven

Pizza dough resting

Mobile menu

The pizza. Chorizo, olives, onion jam and balsamic glaze. Buon Appetito!

Fun and games on the way home

(Apologies for crappy photo and text placement. I change it time and time again, but Blogger reverts back to this format ... have no idea why. If anyone more blog-savvy can help, I'd love it!)