hasta la vista...

Jared made me watch Terminator Two...

and it scared me. :)

Did you know that James Cameron got the idea for Terminator when he had a dream about a machine like man coming out of a raging fire. freaky. I wonder if he had pickles or something before he went to sleep that night.

I promise that the Terminator is not the reason I have been absent from the blogosphere.

My mother in law has been staying with us while my father in law is in the Solomon Islands on a mission trip. He has had great success in that effort and feel free to keep that in your prayers.

I think I am going to update you by showing you pictures. I am going to post pictures of the house soon because it is finally finished, however with company and being out of town...i have to get it back in order before I snap photos and put them in cyber land.

Two weeks ago, Jared and I decided to go to the Farmer's Market that takes place weekly up the road. I thought I knew what to expect until I saw Purple Cauliflower, whole fish and very few people that spoke English. The vegetables were beautiful and the prices were even more beautiful. :) Grapes are usually $9.99 a kg and they had them for $3.99 a kg...i do believe I'll take that!!

There was a little old man with a beret playing his accordion while everyone was bustling around making a deal. He was so nice looking...until after I took this photo.

 

I had a hankering for something that tasted familiar. I made some buttermilk biscuits from scratch and we had breakfast for dinner Saturday night. Don't judge me...I just had biscuits. :)

I love the fact that people here play music all of the time. When you are around the square, you hear people playing and singing. At first, I would think people were yelling...and then I realize they are singing. A little boy in Wellington was playing the violin and was incredible!!! The last time I heard music on the square it was these young men who played a song that I loved. Listen to this...

                                                                  Love it my friends.

This weekend Jared had a conference in Wellington. He's ridden the train before (which I am jealous of) but since the conference lasted all weekend, we made a trip of it. We have great friends in Wellington. This time we stayed with Carl and Adeline. They are always so welcoming and we always have such a good time with them.

Friday morning we headed down. We got there around lunch time and stopped into Heavens pizza on Cuba Street. We ordered the Kiwi pizza. This was a pizza that had bacon, egg and cheese.

 In a word.. it was...interesting. Definitely not something that I would try again. Walking down Cuba Street and window shopping a bit, and it was time for Jared to walk to his conference.

This was my cue to head to Te Papa. Te Papa means 'our place' and is the National Museum of New Zealand.

I had about 4 and a half hours here and I needed every moment of it. The museum is free but there is a charge for an exhibit called 'Unveiled: Wedding Fashion throughout the Centuries'. The exhibit is on loan from the Royal Museum of London but I didn't make it that far.

As I sat at a cafe taking a break, I was joined by an American girl and a Frenchman at the counter. They were obviously on a date. Their conversation included the fact that she was depressed that New Zealand didn't actually have hobbits and that his religion revolved around the five demon days (which I know to be Ancient Egyptian in origin...thanks history teaching job). Random.

My favorite part of the conversation was this. When she continued talking about there being no hobbits, he said in a thick French accent, 'Well, at least there are a lot of sheeps!' And she said...'Yeah! Ships are nice!'

I almost fell off of my bar stool. I even pretended to look at a book on fashion while listening. Judge me if you will.

At Te Papa, there are many exhibits on the islands and geographical make up of New Zealand. Due to the Christchurch quakes and other quakes they have had before, they have an entire area devoted to earthquakes.

I experienced my first earthquake the other night. I was lying on the couch and it felt like Jared was behind the couch, shaking it as hard as he could. Nothing fell and it was over in a matter of seconds, but it was eerie none the less. So as I entered into this exhibit...I was a tad afraid.

They should have added 'the earth quake experience is when the exhibit you are in starts shaking and can be distressing.'

For example. I was sitting down while taking this video. The tv is a fixed object in the room. The shaking is real and symbolizes the way an earthquake in 1987 shook a New Zealand town. The light flash in the corner is from me trying catch myself and keep from falling off the seat. Enjoy!

We spent Saturday and Sunday with the church and going to Porirua services. Between services, Jared took me out to see where he grew up. There is a man renting his parents house that they still own and he works on the Lord of the Rings. He was quite short but I don't think I found a hobbit. :)

There was also a little boy playing outside at the other house Jared used to live in. Jared got to talk to him for a bit and tell him that he used to live there when he was a boy. That was really cool. We drove around Scorching Bay and up the Oriental Parade...it was beautiful. They say that 'You can't beat Wellington on a sunny day'. We had fun but we were glad to be home!!

I hope that you have had a great few weeks! Thanks for reading my blog...even though sometimes it's a little time in between posts!