Visiting Karori

Friday night we went to a party in the suburb of Karori...it is overlooking Wellington and is a short drive from campus. We had been invited to the home of Janet Holmes, one of Susie's advisors. She asked a lot of people from the Applied Linguistics school and some of the affiliated programs such as Language in the Workplace for a pot-luck. We were to bring salad. We were offered a ride by a student, who would pick us up on campus.

We arrived on campus early, so we went up to Susie's office and walked around the building; there was a good bit of it that I had yet to see. Then we unfortunately locked ourselves in the Murphy Building, which is adjacent to Von Zedlitz Hall, where Susie's office is....It was so hilarious. We could not get back into Von Zedlitz or out of any doors in Murphy. Finally I saw a red emergency phone, and Susie talked to security. Luckily, they could open the doors remotely and let us out. I felt like a hamster for a short while, then got back into the snap of things when I saw our ride outside.

The trip to Karori was a winding road uphill and through various tunnels. Janet's home is on the hillside and overlooks the city and the water. We met loads of really great people, who had interests in so many global things. Janet was gracious and a superb hostess, and chatted with everyone while running periodically to the kitchen. Her home was warm, and the people were so much fun to talk to....all of them unpretentious and genuinely interested in one another.

We had food from all over the globe, and children playing everywhere. There were kids who came to NZ speaking no English in April 2006 who seemed so fluent now it was mind-boggling. The kids told me what they liked and disliked about school. One little girl from Japan really dislikes the hats they make her wear at school, because they have flaps that cover the ears and neck for sun protection....I advised her that she would be glad of this when she was older and would have wrinkles, but she looked as if that was a million years away....We know better, don't we? Cute little Jake from England chatted with me, and said he would rather have snacks from the vending machine at school than the lunch his mum packed....typical, eh?

There was only one other American there, and she is from Texas. She lectures at the School of Applied Linguistics and loves New Zealand. She said she gave up on her hair many years ago....the wind here does not leave you with much choice...Anyway, she was quite nice.

It was really a great evening and so good to meet all of the folks at Susie's school. Her advisor is quite proud of her and loves to talk about her work. We wrapped the evening up and rode with our friend back down to town....Saturday was to be a big day!!!