Letter to Students 29th July 2007

Dear Reader

It is late on Sunday night, and we have had another busy weekend, surprise, surprise!  I love Friday night as it is the end of the week, and I end the week with an hour with a dear friend who is Japanese.  We meet at four o’clock in the afternoon, and talk in Japanese and English for one hour.  Initially, we organized a lesson, but we now prefer to just chat for the time we are together, talking in both Japanese and English for the hour.  My friend, Ayako, is older than me, but we share so much in common.  She is a researcher, doing important research into cancer, and has been beset many times with cancer herself.  Ayako is a testament to the power of positive thinking, and to the amazing survival spirit of humans.  I admire her hugely, and when we meet, she is such a tonic at the end of a busy week.  Together, we share ideas, dreams, and past experiences, and the fact that we are from different cultures is totally forgotten.  I never think that we are from different countries and cultures, and just relish the special hour we spend together.  There would never be wars if everyone shared such conversations.

What did you do this past weekend?  On Saturday, I awoke early so that I could clean the school before taking Jan to soccer.  When you own your own business, you can never truly relax, and I don’t mind.  I always dreamed of having my own school, and to make ends meet, I feel that you have to be prepared to do any job that comes along.  I am not too proud to do the cleaning, and in fact I think it keeps you grounded.  My father always swept the floor of his big paint shop when he was the manager, and he had the top turnover in the country.  He is my role model, and yet he worked for IBM who never realized how much he gave to the company.  When they offered him early retirement, a slap in the face as he saw it, he was devastated, and never really recovered.  After all his years of dedication, he left with a gold watch but not even enough money to make him comfortable in his old age.  I remember being really angry on my father’s behalf, but was powerless to do anything.  It was interesting that when I worked for a large organization, I also felt taken for granted, and it is only now that I have my own school that I feel an inner confidence an in control of my own future.  Would you prefer to work for a company or run your own business?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?  I loved working for schools in that I gave everything of myself but I wasn’t responsible for the financial running of the business. Now that I have my own business, I wake every morning at three o’clock with machinations of my mind churning relentlessly.  My philosophy is to live in the moment, but in the small hours of the morning, dark thoughts sometimes envelope me and I wrestle with monsters till I drift back into sleep.  How ridiculous is that?  It is more especially ridiculous when I know how blessed I am. 

On Saturday, I enjoyed watching Jan pay soccer, and Channel 9 television was at the ground filming.  They came up to us as we parents were cheering on our children, and I was relieved when they chose another parent to interview about their thoughts on Benson Pope, the member of Parliament for the Labour Party who has just resigned form his portfolio because he was caught lying.  If I had been asked for my opinion, I would have said that is was so important for public figures to be open and transparent.  For me, honesty is the ultimate in human relationships, and I can’t abide people who don’t tell the truth. 

Jan didn’t win his game, but he played his heart out, and that is all I expect from my children; to do their best.  After the game, I took my mother shopping, and then enjoyed a leisurely lunch as we watched the birds fly onto the deck and drink the nectar which Han poured for them.  We go through five kilos of sugar a week as we feed the tui, bellbirds and waxeyes every day.  Do you see many birds every day?  New Zealand used to be a haven for birds, but rodents and cats have decimated the bird population so that you can go into many forests and not hear the wonderful sound of birds.  A good English friend of ours is a world expert on birds, and he was horrified at how few birds are heard in our native bush.  We are delighted that we are encouraging birds to breed in our garden, and we discourage cats, not that this is easy to do.  New Zealanders have more cats than any other country in the world, and therefore this explains the loss of precious birds.  It is difficult to find a solution to this problem as people who have cats are oblivious to the fact that their precious pets are bird killers!

On Saturday night, we were invited by friends to a Danish movie which was on at the International Film Festival.  Our friend thought it was on at the Rialto, but after standing in a queue for a few minutes, we realized that it was on at the Regent Theatre.  The film was so worth the wait as it was one of the best films I have ever seen.  It was called After the Wedding, and I would love to tell you all about it, but that wouldn’t be fair if you plan to see it.  However, suffice it say, I cried as I always do and wiped off all my makeup.  Our friends didn’t shed a tear, but Han and I felt wrung out.  We always get so involved in movies that we truly live them, and I love that feeling of connection.  What is the best movie you have ever seen? After the movie, we went to the Japanese restaurant Jizo for dinner, and we spent a lot of time talking about the movie and our reactions to it.  Our friends had never been to Jizo, and really enjoyed the Japanese food we chose for them.  We retired to our friends’ beautiful home for dessert, and were delighted that their renovated kitchen was finally completed after one year!  It has been such an epic renovation, and we are so delighted for them.  They have spent four years getting settled, and they are now able to fully unpack their possessions.  For me, it is so important to feel settled in a place, and I have to put up my paintings and feel settled within the first week!  Do you think it is important to unpack and feel settled quickly?

Today, Sunday, we entertained Han’s seventy five year old Dutch friend, Hans, and his seventy three year old friend who used to be married to Hans’s good friend until he died two years ago.  Han lit both fires, and we spent the afternoon eating freshly dug and roasted vegetables, fresh bread and freshly butchered beef steak.  How I love such days, and I was sorry I had to break the ambience by rushing into town to pick Jan up as Jan was helping with the Open Day at his school, Logan Park High School.  I had organized for Jan to catch the five o’clock bus home, but it was drizzly and I didn’t think it was fair that he had to wait so long.  What we do for our children, and do you think they take it for granted?  I don’t think my children take me for granted as they always seem appreciative, and I like to think that is the case! 

Before our guests arrived, Han and I drove down to our daughter’s home for a cuppa late morning.  It was so wonderful to see our Nicky and Colin’s new house, and although it is small, Nicky has made it such a special home with all their treasures neatly positioned.  She shares Han’s ability to make a small space look bigger than it is.  I so treasure the time we spend with our children, and being with our grandchild Ella is the icing on the cake.  Nicky and Colin lived in a flat in town before buying their house in Harwood, overlooking the harbour, and wee Ella already notices the lambs in the back paddock and the birds in the garden.  She is a special wee girl, and very loved, not like the toddler who was featured on the front page of the newspaper today who was put into a drier and spun round as her mother laughed.  How can such sick people exist in this world?  Such parents should be sterilized so that they can not wreak their havoc on any other innocent souls.  However, I am not going to talk about such negative parts of our society as there are so many positive things to celebrate in our society.

Let’s have a great week, and may each day be very special.

Love

Sharron