It's been a while.

Dear Blog,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for neglecting you over the past 20 days. It's not that I don't have much to write about because, well, I have heaps of things to share with you. Unfortunately I can't remember it all.

The big news is that I finally took the plunge and made that important decision. I arrive in Manchester on 6th Decemeber. On 17th January 2012 I will be boarding the plane again to take me back to Auckland until the end of April. That's right Blog, I'm coming/going back to New Zealand. 

Did you hear that England got kicked out of the World Cup by the Frenchies? I don't know much about rugby, but after playing like that England deserved to lose. While on the subject of rugby I got to go see South Africa play Samoa at the North Harbour Stadium. Amanda kindly procured tickets for us. When I got to Stacey's house, the face painting was in full swing and I even got a flag painted on my face.

Once we got to the stadium we realised that we weren't all actually sitting together! Woops! Me and Amanda were together but the guys were on their own. Our seats were impeded view, but we were sat right at the side of the pitch by the try line. The only thing impeding our view was the security-type man and even he wasn't really in the way. It was an exciting game and me and Amanda supported opposite sides. I shouted 'GO BOKKE' while Amanda cheered on Samoa.

I also headed down to Queen's Wharf to watch the England V Scotland match. Amanda and Serena were equipped with the Scottish flags and Serena even wore and quilt and had painted her nails with St Andrews crosses. For most of the match me and Stacey sat wrapped in our England flags, a little bit embarrassed as most of the crowd were supporting Scotland.

Amanda and I have had a couple of good trips to Queen's Wharfe. I even went sky diving. Not really - it's a blue screen people! I put the picture up on Facebook and I can't help but think from the comments that some people thought it was legit. Well, it ain't legit. Let it be known, you will never catch me sky diving.

So what else is new in my life? Well, I've just got back from a week on Waiheke Island! Waiheke is a beautiful, beautiful place covered in native bush with gorgeous beaches and there's a whole bunch of vineyards. There's also a whole load of crazy birds. When we pulled up to the house there were a bunch of Pukeko on the lawn. Yes, I like birds. Here's a picture of a bird. It's a pigeon.

The family I work for owns a house out there, and as it's not always occupied and it's right in the bush, the place had a few too many spiders in my opinion. I lost count of how many I killed while I was there. I know what you're thinking and yes, I would never cut it as a Buddist. Susan gave me a bug killing spray and I got a bit scared using it. I'd spray the spider. It would fall off the wall and start scurrying around. So I would spray it again and it would disappear under some piece of furniture. So each night I lay in fear of mutant spiders coming to seek revenge or the avenge the death of a friend.

Moving on from my severe dislike and totally irrational fear of spiders and all other critters, let's talk weather. The first two days there, the weather was just divine and I spent my time on the beach getting burnt and freckled. The house was less than a 5 minute walk from Onetangi Beach. It was heaven. I went on long romantic walks (on my own) up and down the beach. But mostly I just sat reading and listening to music.

After the two days of beautiful weather, we had a day of ok weather, then the heavens opened for the rest of the week. One day I took the kids on the bus (which was a new experience for them) to the local cinema to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. The cinema was pretty cool. It was old a community cinema with a projector and just a room full of sofas. And I actually liked the film.

As we were cooped up in the house, the kids decided it would be fun to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. EVERY. DAY. There's only so much of musicals I can stand, and I tell you what, I've had my fix now.Ii escaped to a cafe on the last day in Waiheke, reconnected with the outside world using the wifi on my iPod and watched the surfers out in the rain. Crazy people.

Now I'm back in Auckland, ready for another rugby filled weekend and I'm excited to be catching up with friends again.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I write again.

Much love,
Manne x

I think that's a lot.

Cast your mind back to opening night of the rugby world cup. That time I was babysitting and the kids (well, child) were misbehaving. Andrew had told each of the kids that if they didn't make any fuss that they would get a prize. Even with the bribe of dessert and the threat of not receiving a prize, Sienna refused to eat her dinner, stop shouting or quit with the Hollywood crying. Half way through dinner she went and ran herself a bath (at least she was being helpful) and then got ready for bed.

It sounds pretty straight forward but while all that drama was going on I actually thought "What am I even doing with my life?" I've only had this thought a couple of times, you know the one where you actually think there is no space in your life for kids ever, and well, she'd pushed me to think this again. Anyway, once she'd given herself a bath and got into bed she began to be quite co-operative so I read her a story and she went to sleep.

The next morning we watched the opening ceremony again while eating pancakes. Matthew and Phoebe had their prizes for being well behaved. Fortunate for them, in comparison to Sienna's tantrum, I had described M & P as 'angels' and they had been a 'dream'. Susan told me that the conversation between Andrew and Sienna had gone a little bit like this.

A: Did you make a fuss for Marianne?
S: Yup.
A: A little bit of fuss?
S: Nope. A big fuss.

Apparently she had a grin on her face the whole time. That girl was fully aware of what she was doing. Lucky for her, she's so cute and gives me so many cuddles that I forgive her.

When you wish upon a star

I feel that I should set the mood with a little music.

As some of you may be aware, at the moment I'm in the middle of making an important and difficult (at least to me) decision. It's basically about whether I come back to New Zealand again.

There are a million reason why I want to stay here and why I want to go back to England. And I'll be honest with you, right now New Zealand is winning. It's just unfortunate that the reasons for going with England carry a bit more weight.

Basically any time I have to myself to think is consumed with thoughts about whether I want to stay or not. Several nights over the past few weeks, well months, when I've been walking home I've looked up and seen the beautiful stars in the clear night sky. I've always been fascinated by stars and space (I think I get it from my mum) and a starry sky makes me feel all happy inside. It brings me comfort and gives me a sense of being while simultaneously making me feel like a tiny speck and making my mind hurt. Anyway, I digress.

I'm walking along and I'm in awe and all that jazz and think "I can't imagine not living in a city where I can see the stars like this". I see stars back home, but not like I do here. So that's one point to Auckland.

This is a long winded way of telling you that last night I saw a shooting star and it was beautiful. And shush you scientist types, I know it wasn't a star but rather dust or a meteor entering the atmosphere but it was still beautiful. Luckily, I've got my head screwed on so my reaction was "WOW! THAT IS SO COOL" and not "OH MY BLOG, IT'S A SIGN!!!!!"

When I finally got home and got into bed I remembered that you're meant to make a wish. I should have wished that I woke up on time the next day. But instead I didn't make any wish and I woke up 30 mins after I was meant to start work today. It's times like this where I'm grateful that my place of work is just outside my bedroom door.

Ou est la gare?

Comic by Gemma Correll. Check her out.

Today I finally realised what Madame Groarke was going on about when she was saying that learning French was one of the most important things about school. She told us that without a French GCSE we would never be able to get a job. She must be right because I do in fact have a GCSE in French and a job.

I'm on the bus on my way to town when a Frenchman gets on. He's probably in his 60s and quite possibly drunk. He pays the bus driver and takes his ticket which promptly flies out of his hand. He's saying something so I stop my music to hear whats going on (because I love listening to people on the bus under the deception of listening to music). When he finally catches up with his ticket he picks it up, turns to the bus and announces "LE TICKET IS ALL BLACK!" He then stuck the ticket to his eyebrow and took his seat.

He was trying to ask a question but no one quite knew what he was saying. He kept pointing where he was and saying 'Brito. Brito." Then made train noises. I figured he wanted to go to Britomart. So in my best french accent I said "ou est la gare?" (because it's the only way I can think to ask if he wants to know where the station is.) The guy gets excited "Oui! Oui! Oui!". Next I use an international language I honed while in Asia, I put up two fingers and say "Two stops". I don't know how to say that in french, soz. He then said something I did understand, "Je suis francais." Then he said a sentence I only understood two words of  "blah blah blah All Blacks blah blah." I smiled and nodded, hoping it wasn't a question.

It's nice to know that the 5 years spent learning French didn't go to waste. Thanks Madame Groarke!

I'm still trying to see the connection between his ticket and the All Blacks though. Suggestions welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be able to spell things correctly in French. I'm English, what did you expect?

This one's for you Becky Orndal.

So I'm browsing facebook when this picture of my sister turns up on my news feed.

My first thought isn't "Oh my goodness, my sister has green hair!"

Nope the first thought is. "HEY! THAT'S MY SCARF!!!". My next thought is "It's a bit christmassy with the green hair and red... wait a minute, THAT'S MY HAT!"

Sisters, hey? 

P.S. You're braver than me with the hair...

Springwatch

I know it's pretty straightforward but I still can't wrap my head round it - it's September and it's spring.

It's just confusing that the seasons are all the other way round. I was walking down the street in the wonderful sunshine and looked at the daisies and thought that it was lovely that spring was finally here.

Susan brought home some daffodils and tulips, some lovely spring flowers.

But, hold on. It's September. And it's spring? Mind. Blown.

This weekend I met up with Jordan for some lunch. She's also recently moved into the area so we went to check out some of the cute cafes near by. And to get frozen yoghurt of course. It was nice to see all the England flags out in preparation for the match. England played Argentina last night and I was babysitting across the road. So I watched the rugby and got paid for doing it. Nice one.

Told you I lived near the ocean. That is the harbour right there. This is about 10 minute walk from my house.

Look what's currently outside my bedroom door. The kids claim they built it, but I get the feeling their Dad might have had something to do with it. They're currently extending it as I write this.

Opening Ceremony.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The opening ceremony for the RWC was just WOW.

Seriously, I've never been happier to be in New Zealand. I am actually in love with this place in all it's beauty. [I discovered today there's a beach 20 minutes walk from my house. I'm gonna go check that bad boy out soon]

Unfortunately as I work as an au pair I've had the pleasure of watching all the celebrations from the couch. Another unfortunate thing is that the kids weren't that well behaved and it was chaos, with one child crying for 80% of the time from when her parents left to when she went to bed. I love these kids, but it's tough when they're crying for seemingly no reason.

Luckily though, the couch and TV offered the best view for encountering all the events. Part of the celebrations was a massive firework display down on the waterfront. I went out to watch it and there were some amazing fireworks coming off the sky tower. I could see the ones down on the waterfront but a tree was obscuring most of the view. The sky was just lit up for what felt like forever. It was amazing, just a shame I couldn't have had a better view (not including the TV).

Here are some terrible pictures that don't do the view justice. (I had my camera in the wrong setting. Sue me, I never claimed to be a photographer) The street lights on my street are pretty dim (as they seem to be in most of Auckland) so you can really see the stars at night. And it was a clear night. Stars + Fireworks = enchanting. 

I absolutely love being in New Zealand right now. The Kiwis should be proud.