What can I say? Kia Ora my friends! That is the Maori language for hello, hi, greetngs and welcome all put together. I am in Auckland and it is raining. I think John brings the rain with him wherever he goes.
We arrived with the dawn at a little past 5:00am. It is now Dec. 2 here whle it is still Dec. 1 back home. John carried me through customs with no problems. He complains how heavy I am... the wimp!
John believes in staying up his first day in NZ in order to avoid the jet lag. He has been up since waking up in Van at 10:00am Nov. 30. He couldn't sleep on the plane thinking of home, his friends, and his cat. A woman on the shuttle said a wise saying that resonated with john. "When you have lived a travelled life, home is always where you're not." He has spent the day walking around downtown Auckland and buying a few things. He also stopped in to hsi old building but most of the profs are at another campus and so he talked to a secretary. She said she will pass the word that John is back in town.
John did have a good trip to NZ. He was seated beside an Indian couple who were travelling to Wellington. It turns out he is a retired Indian diplomat. He had been posted to NZ as Indian High Commissioner (Commonwealth term for ambassador) and his kids grew up here. When it was time for them to go back home, they wanted to stay and since the kids are really talented, NZ accepted them. So he and his wife agreed to become NZ citizens too. John learned so much about world politics from this man. He was biased pro India of course but he could explain so many other things going on in the world and it all made sense and it was NOT in our media. When I asked how he got his information when in another country, he said the Indian intelligence people provided him the background. He had visited Ottawa, on official business of course, but had never been posted to Canada. They were such a genuinely nice couple. She was very proud of their grandchildren.
Anyway, enough talking for now. John is trying to stay awake but I am just going lie down here on the floor.... zzzzzz
TRB
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Hi there.......what more rain?? OMG! Hope you sleep soon and the sun shines for you tomorrow. :-)
ReplyDeleteKia Ora Red Backpack. Today is a special day to land in NZ - hope John has an umbrella w/all the rain.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. John does have an umbrella Anonymous. And yes it was a good day to land here! (smile). Today is overcast but much brighter but then again without the rain there would not be as many flowers in NZ
ReplyDelete