Another average weekend in a beautiful place

Sean and I finally got out of Auckland last weekend and headed up to his parents place a few hours north of here. They surprised me by putting up a Texas flag on their new flagpole and it gave me a bit of home comfort. It cracked me up when they said they had to google to make sure they had the right way up. The weather ended up being fantastic and we did a nice 3 hour hike along the coast on the Whananaki Coastal Walkway near their house.

My favorite picture. I couldn't help but post it.

It felt like Christmas at the beach

On the way home we went to a big cat sanctuary and saw lions, tigers, cheetahs, and leopards. It was really cool and hearing 10 lions start roaring at once was a surreal experience. They have the lion used as Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia. Apparently his stardom has gone to his head and he grooms much better than the other lions. The white tigers were stunningly beautiful and we finished up right as it started downpouring.

I hit a little hiccup with my homework, but with the end in sight I'm getting more motivated to finish. Work is going well and I'm getting more tasks I enjoy doing. We are beginning to make the product of my first real design work, so we will see. So far every aspect of it has had problems (fortunately, only one as a result of my work) so I'm a bit nervous. The roll of fabric we are using is also the last roll of that fabric in the world and we are using 90% of it, so not much room for error.

I had my three month review this week and all went well. I am going to start applying for my residency in the next few weeks, so fingers crossed.

We have done a few exciting things recently: went to a comedy club (first row), photo exhibit at the museum, putt putt, flat pot luck dinner, and trivia night. A friend of mine is staying with us this weekend before he flies home to England next week.

One of my flatmates hurt his knee a few weeks ago and just found out he tore his ACL, so he's not too happy about that. My other flatmate just found out he has whooping cough, so its never a dull moment around here.

I also completed another of my art projects that is hanging above our couch in the living room. Now I'm trying to find a new project to tackle. I love the updates from you guys. Keep them coming.