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Let May be abundant

Would you like to know what's been keeping us sane and laughing these days?

Yep this little football.
We found it one night, lost in the gutter, a couple weeks back while we were walking to get milk. At first Dustin chided me for picking it up - his story was that some poor child was missing the ball. I reckon he's on board with "finders keepers" now. You see, due to it's small size and nerf-like foam, it can be thrown around willy nilly without injury! Up until this morning I would also have said without damage but after Dustin's patented ceiling-deflection shot....

Oops.. there goes the light fixture. Good thing it's just plastic.

Anyways, it's a daily no-mercy battle. Whoever finds the ball takes the first throw and it's ongoing. Because we have the maturity of 8 year olds, one throw turns into a serious show of skill. Sometimes the dodging and faking and aiming and throwing and giggling goes on for fifteen minutes before it subsides for a couple hours. So I must say Tuesday was slightly terrible because a wayward bounce put the ball directly behind the golf bag sitting in the corner. You couldn't espy it from either side so you had to climb behind the dining table to find it. The ball stayed hidden for nearly the entire day as we searched high and low, completely baffled that in such a small space it could be lost. I believe I was the finder and thus, the game continued.

This is the most difficult shot, with the aim being to hit someone standing in front of the sink in the bathroom.


Not only do you have to throw across the couch but also through the narrowed doorway to the bathroom. If you make this shot you are the king. It's only been done once or twice. The poor sucker brushing their hair or flossing their teeth can barely see it coming. But both of us have a sense of when we are the football's target.

The current scenario is such that we need little distractions and laughs. We are both still unemployed. I had an interview this week and will hear back by tomorrow I hope. It's a position with the hospital in the records department. Dustin's currently doing some career exploration and venturing after working with an Arborist to see if he would like to train to do that. As we all know and as Tom Petty can confirm, the waiting is the hardest part. There are a few jobs each week that I am able (and interested) to apply for but employers here are big fans of running a 2-3 week posting even when it's just for an admin support position. In fact the posting for the interview I had this week closed back on April 4th so the process is lengthy.

We seem to be dwelling on the wrong things lately. Poor Dustin's been trying to wade through the bureaucracy of converting his driver's licence to a NZ one. This should be simple but because he is licensed to drive everything under the sun, he wants to convert the whole thing rather than just a normal car licence. (Might as well since it might help with some employment.) They did have some information on what classes in BC are equivalent to the classes here but there was this mystery "T Endorsement" that would save him from having to go through a practical test. After much back and forth with NZ Transport and ICBC, neither side knew what a T Endorsement was. No clue how it ended up on the requirements list then! The result ended up that he would still have to go through a practical test and theory test as well. The heavy truck test here is so much more in depth than at home and it's been a few years since he got it at home so overall to have to take the practical would likely require some classes here and all that. At this point it's not quite as worth it unless he actually has a job offer that requires this licence.

Anyways, dwelling on the fact that we've already been here nearly 6 weeks drags us down a bit. As my Dad put it though - "there's still 46 weeks left then!" Lately, in waiting for work we are both jumping ahead to the end of our visa and what we'll end up doing. This is pretty useless to speculate on since it's so far away and so many things could happen in 10.5 months. But it feels like so much time has passed already and we don't feel like there's a lot to show for it. So we are working really hard to keep spirits up right now and stay positive about it all.

Rhys Darby helped with that last night. We saw him perform his "This Way to Spaceship" show. As usual, his antics and subject matter had us laughing it up. Sadly his opener did not have the same effect. But initially Rhys came out in one of his characters to do a bit of "housekeeping" with references to his last tour - which we also caught! The best part was the show finished with Rhys showing off his "original dance moves" to "Rhythm is a Dancer" by Snap. They were sweet as and I definitely tried to replicate them when we got home.

Making food like this also makes us happier:

Cheers to NZ seafood!

Maybe focusing on the little things like this can be another tool in sanity. I mean the milk here is creamy and flavourful and the local garlic has been knocking my socks off. There's a hogget roast in the freezer for enjoyment this weekend so that's a reason to be stoked about our life currently. (Hogget is just meat from a sheep older than the meat called lamb. Hogget is meatier and has a stronger flavour. We couldn't find it at home because presumably, the biggest market is for lamb, not hogget or mutton - meat from older sheep.)

Here's a treat for you who like NZ humour - a full episode of 7 Days with Rhys Darby as a guest!


So this weekend I start my volunteer training and Dustin has two demo surfboards to try out so hopefully the surf picks up for him. Maybe after tomorrow I can say that I will be starting work next week! If not, we'll just keep busy replacing light fixtures and working on that difficult shot.

I'd like to try to make this blog a bit more interactive with you dear readers! So in the spirit of our distraction-based goofiness, why not share with us some silly things you do to stay sane? We might need some extra ammo in our arsenal as the job search goes on and on.

Comments

  1. My entire comment just got deleted! Now I will crush the world!! Haha...no...I must carry on...
    I love that you and Dustin are playing with the football almost at the expense of your living pad! It is so something that my deranged husband and I would do together, so of course I love it. In terms of de-stressing activities, it’s all about the mad underwear dance parties around our parts (blinds closed of course.)
    Good luck with the job hunt! I really hope you get the position at the hospital. I’ll keep my fingers crossed! Don’t stress though – these things have a way of working out in the most random times in the most random places. It’s a pain trying to facilitate the licence transfer, but that too will iron itself out in no time.
    In the meanwhile, all that yummy looking food you are making and top comedy shows you are attending are excellent activities to partake in! I am super jealous about the Rhys show – no doubt it was a laugh riot and a half.
    Will there be more opportunities coming up to go to shows?
    Have a great rest of your week! Hope the sun is shining down on you both :)

    E to the D.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sweet, undies dance parties will be put on the agenda! haha. Yes, Dustin's had an upswing in his job hunt (but if I say too much then I'll be divulging precious content from future posts haha...)
      There is actually another comedy show next month on Dustin's birthday. We need to get tickets! It's a small club so we better get on it! It's a comedian we love but haven't seen do stand up on his own before, Dai Henwood, and a fellow we caught on tour last time we were here, Ben Hurley.
      Thanks, yes the sun stayed out all weekend and we got out in it! :)

      Delete

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