Christchurch chattering!

New Fire

Our new fire

We started out the month being cold. No other word for it. I had my longjohns on and a blanket and the heater going. Sadly we still couldn’t light the fire as we were waiting for the alterations to the hearth, and then it needed to be inspected again. How do people live like this? But I was very happy to receive a photo by email when I was in Ljubljana, showing the fire lit! It got the permit. It is wonderful. The house is now toasty warm all the time. I don’t ever want to be without a fire again. It does put more smoke into the living-room than the one we had previously, so we are trying to improve our stoking technique to minimise this.
William
William was shifted from Kaitaia to Mangere Bridge. He doesn’t mind being back in the city so much as there are nice paddocks around. You’d have thought he grew up in the country, the way he loves it.
Ljubljana trip

Singapore Airport

On the 8th July Mark took me to the airport where I sat around forever waiting to leave. The flight to Singapore was pleasant, next to a nice couple who were on their way to their annual trip to Italy. At Singapore Airport I was on my way to the swimming pool when I ran into my lawyer and his wife, and a woman from the University who I know quite well. So the four of us, and a woman I’d chatted to on the plane all went to the pool and swam around and had a pleasant time sitting in the warm evening air and chatting.
Then I flew to Lufthansa to Frankfurt, on an ancient 747. After taking off it vibrated so badly I was wondering if it was going to leave pieces on the runway. I tried to sleep and dozed a little, so it wasn’t too bad. They didn’t even have separate screens, so I got to watch Valentines Day and Invictus. The food was horrible, particularly in contrast to the food on Singapore Airlines, which was delicious.

Frankfurt airport is rather confusing and I needed going through two security checks and getting frisked rather more intimately than I was comfortable with and had to throw out two empty water bottles, one of which I had purchased at that very airport! I did manage to have a shower there, which made me feel more alive. After 5 hours in Frankfurt airport I flew bbe Adria Air to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. My iPhone is SO handy. It worked in both the airports and was able to text Mark and tell him where I was, and clear my emails.

I was met at the airport and taken to my hotel, and unpacked. It was like pretty much any other hotel of that price range. Then I went out to explore the town. I was just about 100m from the centre of town land I caught a little motorised train up to the castle. I was wandering around there when I got talking to an American mother and daughter. We ended up having dinner together.

View of Ljubljana from the Castle

The next day was fantastic. I woke feeling great and texted Mark to call me on my direct line. I dressed and went down to an amazing breakfast buffet (all part of the room price). They had vegetables, as well as the usual breakfast stuff. It kept me going for most of the day. I hired a bike for the day for €5 and set out nice and early while it was still cool. I went up to the castle and found two geocaches and almost found a third. It was a wonderful feeling biking down the hill from the castle with the warm breeze. The roads are very quiet, and the busier roads have bike lanes, usually on a separate level, next to the footpath.

Kiwi on the geocache with the tracker bug

LDS Chapel in Ljubljana

I went looking for the Chapel and after getting lost and getting some help in a shop, I found it. I had left my maps in my room and didn’t realise I could use data roaming on my phone. I biked back to the hotel and recharged the phone and ate halva, dates and chocolate – a balanced lunch?
Then I biked to the BTC, a shopping centre, and bought a T-shirt and a very perfect swimsuit at a place called Emporium. It was not a mall as we know it in NZ or the US. What intrigues me is that there, as well as at the town market, there are rows of stalls selling the same things – very nice fresh fruit and vegetables, but all the same. How does one decide?

Entrance to Zale by Plecnik

I spent a few hours there then went looking for another geochache at the cemetery, which had an entrance designed by Plecnik, an innovative architect from the early 20th Century.
Then biked back to the hotel taking photos on the phone and the camera. By this time I discovered that I did have data roaming, and stopped getting lost. The iPhone has GPS, and downloads the maps from the Google. At any point I can see where I am with a little blue spot.

Then I headed back into town and looked for the conference venue. I got lost and went around in circles, even with the phone helping me. The roads are rather tricky.
I gave back the bike and changed shoes and t-shirt and went looking for dinner. Had a nice chicken on rocket, with veges, then a rather ordinary ice-cream

Interesting apratment building in Ljubljana

Ljubljana is an interesting mix of wonderful old buildings and unattractive communist era buildings. Some of the more modern buildings show a bit of flair. The people are very friendly and nice.
On Sunday I walked to church through Tivoli Park, which took a little over an hour. It was very pleasant – a forest on a hill, with  people walking and running there – enough to feel safe, but not so many that it felt crowded. I practised some Slovene phrases on the way there that I had downloaded on my iPhone and got to say “I’m sorry I don’t speak Slovene” in Slovene to a man when I was looking at a very high ski jump.
Church was nice. The chapel is lovely. They provide English translations over headsets for all the meetings, which is great. One speaker spoke in Portuguese, while one of the leaders translated into Slovevene, and a missionary translated into English over the headsets.

Centre of Ljubljana

I was invited to lunch by Dora and an older missionary took me there. A young woman, Urschka was also visiting. We had a lovely time, even though it was ridiculously hot. They had both had challenging lives, but were overjoyed to be latter-day saints. The church is about to celebrate 20 years in Slovenian, which I’m pretty sure coincides with 20 years of independence from Yugoslavia.
I walked back with Dora along the waterfront to my hotel and said goodbye to a new friend.
Back in my room I had a look at the Conference website, and realised that the welcome was about to begin, about 15 minutes walk away in a place I had got lost trying to find at least twice already. So I got a taxi!
I didn’t miss anything, and the reception was pleasant. There were heaps of New Zealanders there – it was quite funny really. I’d start talking to someone and ask where they were from and find they were from NZ.

Then Monday to Friday I was pretty busy at the conference. The weather was rather too warm for my liking, at 34 to 36 degrees every day, and not a lot of air-conditioning. I tagged along with people to dinner a couple of times. On the Wednesday I had a great day. I ate breakfast with Jean-Paul from Winnipeg who was at the conference  and in the same hotel. I gave my presentation and there was a very good-sized audience, especially considering it was at 8:20 – the first presentation of the day. The plenary, by Gerd Gigerenzer, was an epiphany for me. He made me aware of how badly statistical information, particularly about medical screening and similar, is communicated. I feel a sense of calling to make up some Youtube videos, with William’s help when he gets home, to teach people about this. I will put a link to his website here – you should do the quiz.

Nicola at Predjama Castle

In the afternoon I went on a bus tour to Predjama castle and Postojna caves. The castle was very interesting, built in front of a cave, but the caves were splendid. I met up with Helen, whom I’d eaten dinner with a few nights before and found out she was LDS, and into Geocaching. She is from Tasmania but lives in Melbourne, Deer Park stake. It was fun being with her as we did the Cave tour. It was so nice to be cool for 90 minutes or so. We took a train in then walked around, then caught the train out again. The highlight on Thursday was the Conference dinner, and the best I’ve ever had, I think. The setting was a wonderful ball room and the food was beautifully presented and delicious. A foal carpaccio with rocket,  a bream dish, duck and crème brulee. I sat between a man from the US and one from Portugal and had an enjoyable evening.

I stayed to the very end of the conference and ate at McDonalds that I passed on my way back to the hotel.
My flight out on Saturday was not until the evening and it was still stinking hot. I made a plan! I got up early and had a light breakfast, and went out on a bike for 3 ½ hours, then had a shower and ate the breakfast at the hotel. I finished packing and checked out of the hotel. My plan was to spend the afternoon in the comfort of an air-conditioned museum, but sadly the museum was not air-conditioned. It was, however, very interesting and had plenty of places to sit down and watch videos about 20th Century Slovenian history. My bike ride in the morning had taken me to a rather lovely part of the city which was for all the world like a little village, with gardens growing vegetables to sell in the markets. Then I found a bike route that circled the city, where there used to be a barbed wire fence surrounding the city during WWII.  Another taxi ride took me to Emporium (yay air conditioning) and then back to the hotel. Finally I got a shuttle to the airport.
The flight back was pretty gruelling. The Lufthansa food was even worse than on the way over, though I had a nice snack in Munich airport. I only had a couple of hours in Singapore airport this time, and spent much of it trying to find some peanut butter M and Ms as I had found some there on the way over. So not enough time for a swim.

Then Singapore Airlines back to Christchurch, except that about 20 minutes out of Christchurch we got diverted to Auckland due to fog, where we sat on the runway for two hours, and then flew down to Christchurch. I was so happy to feel the fresh cold air. I will never complain about Christchurch cold again – not that I do usually. Heat is so tiring!
I was totally jetlagged for a week - even went to bed at 7:30pm on Thursday after I had arrived on Monday.
Sad news at home
Things had been fine at home without me. Mark and Jonathan went to Judy Berger’s funeral. Judy had been the director of the Elmwood Visual Resource Centre for some years, and will be sadly missed. She was an out-going “larger than life” woman, with a big heart. She died of cancer in her late 50’s.
A few days after I got home I got word that some friends of ours have a new grandson who has Treacher Collins syndrome, which is a genetic condition that affects the bones of the face, and probably his hearing as well.
New iPads
The iPad was launched in New Zealand on 23rd July, and Mark kindly got us two for the company – one for each director and director’s family. This is for testing the app on, and developing further iPad applications.
Worrying news
Then on Saturday I found out that William’s girlfriend, Jessica, was going home early from her mission due to ill-health. We had a few difficult and sad days when we were told it was fibromyalgia, a chronic condition her mother suffers from. Then when she got home a few days later, the doctor said it was mono (glandular fever). This was a relief. However she is still having tests, so we are hoping that all will be well soon. She was due to go home in November anyway, so she hasn’t missed much of her mission. We rang William’s mission president, as we thought the news would upset William. We didn’t call William, as advised, and he coped just fine. It was nice to talk to Sister and President Porter and to know that they knew and loved William. They had seen Rosemary/Nan just the weekend before who was happy to tell them that they had one of her grandsons and were about to get a second.
Ward Conference and Jonathan helps out

Jonathan drying dishes at the Chapel

That weekend it was Ward Conference, with lots of activities. We helped out at the service project and stayed for hotdogs and dessert, but not the sports night. On the Sunday we had Souper Sunday after Ward Conference, and the men were assigned to clear up. I suggested to Jonathan that he could help with the dishes, but he didn’t seem at all keen. So I went off to talk to someone else, and a few minutes later Talia McDonald rushed up (not that she ever does anything else) and told me that Jonathan was drying the dishes. I thought Mark had got him to do it, and he thought I had. Then I thought Talia had done it, but in fact Jonathan had made his own way to the kitchen, with a bit of help from Talia, but it was of his own volition. It’s exciting. He also has had some Orientation instruction around the chapel and now makes his own way about and tells people not to help him. Everyone is very proud of his independence.

It was difficult getting started again on Seminary, but it was wonderful once I did. We are at the second half of Alma, and it is full of delights, particularly the chiasmus in Alma 36, which we underlined in different colours on copies of the chapter.
More sad news
Also in the weekend we got word that Libby Laurent, a very important person in Jonathan’s high school life, had died. She had been diagnosed with cancer 8 weeks before, and though we had sent a card and had been praying for her, we had hoped to see her again, and that she might have made it to Jonathan’s party next year. It was very sad news. I had a difficult time focussing on my lectures that morning.

On the Wednesday I got Shane to give my lecture, and went to Libby’s funeral. It was a Roman Catholic Mass, and rather less personal than my taste in funerals. She was clearly loved and admired. Libby was the same age as I am (born 1961). She had bowel cancer secondary to melanoma.
Rogo
We have had unsolicited positive feedback about Rogo from several sources, but it is still difficult to not worry. It could do really well, or badly or moderately well or... For Mark’s sake I hope it does well enough that he doesn’t have to go back to paid employment.

Mark’s computer packed a sad on Friday. It turned out to be the mother-board, so it was nice that he didn’t lose all his data. I brought home the company MacBook and he is using that in the meantime and discovering life as a Mac user.

Ceri and TC visit

That evening we were lucky to have the opportunity to go out for dinner with Cerian and TC, who were down with a group of friends from Nelson, doing some train journeys. What an adventure they are embarking on, moving to Davis for three years. It was so nice to see them, and catch up. Maybe we will see them before a year is up!

Mark admiring Christchurch from the Port Hills

Then on the last day of July, Mark and I managed to get out for a walk on the hills. It was about three and a half hours, going up the Bowenvale, through rural, cowpat mud and sheep trails, up to the Summit Road, along the crater rim for a bit, then down to meet up with Major Aitken drive, and to the car through streets of posh houses. All good. It takes a while for my legs to warm up, but once we get up into the hills, it is wonderful. So blessed we are to live in this fabulous city in such a wonderful country. I saw my first blossom of Spring.

first blossom

In the evening I went to a school production at Aranui High School that two of my seminary students were extras in. It was called “A Night in Elsinore” and it was very well done, with quite an Island feel to it. Pretty funny, with good timing. We took my brother, Peter, too, who really enjoyed it. Quite a contrast with the Japanese formality he has been part of for two years now.

I don’t have much news of Mark. He and Jonathan enjoy their time together. They survived my absence quite happily as my mother cooked twice, and I left several frozen dinners for them.