Letter to Students 27th August 2007

Dear Reader

I didn’t write to you last night, as is my usual ritual, as I was feeling totally exhausted when I finally sat down late at night.  However, it was exhaustion caused by having one of the best weekends I can remember, so I am not complaining!

On Friday night, our extended family went out to the Edgar Sport Centre to watch our fourteen year old son play in the final of the Dunedin High School Basketball competition, and it was such an exciting game.  Jan had a brilliant game, and I felt so proud of him.  His team won, and they won because they really played as one team, and not just individual members.  Jan left yesterday for Invercargill with his team as the South Island tournament is on.  He will be in seventh heaven playing basketball every day for four days.  Do you like playing, or watching, basketball?  I never played basketball, but I enjoy watching my children play any sport!  Did your parents watch you when you played sport?  My mother and father were always on the sideline, and I try to do the same.  Sometimes, work gets in the way, but I try to make my children’s sport my top priority.

After the basketball game, I quickly dropped in to see my mother before heading out to the airport to pick up my Japanese friend, and a Japanese high school student who is studying with us just for the week.  I was running late, and my friend was a little worried I had forgotten as I wasn’t there when she came through the door.  Thankfully, I arrived as they were leaving the terminal, and we had a beautiful trip back into town.  The sky had been a brilliant blue with pink highlights, and I love such skies.  Do you have such colourful skies in your country?

That evening, I invited my friends back to our home for dinner and catch up.  Unfortunately, I was so excited about my daughter, Shahan, arriving the next day, that I drank far too much wine and became very drunk!  It is very unusual for me to be drunk, and I felt so embarrassed in the morning, as I had talked far too much!  However, I wasn’t hung over, and woke up early to make breakfast for our guests.  They loved sitting at the table watching the birds fly in to feed, and were in no rush to head off home  However, I had to assess the TESOL students teaching in the morning, so we had to cut short our relaxing breakfast, and head into town.  It was such a gorgeous morning, and I felt so blessed.  I was so looking forward to Shahan arriving, and after the assessment, I rushed back home to pick up Jan and Han in Portobello. Going out to the airport on such a brilliantly sunny day was awesome, and I felt excited.  The plane was delayed by 20 minutes, and we sat surrounded by our big family and chatted.  When the plane touched down, I thought I would explode, and my heart was beating so fast as Shahan came through the door.  Three of Shahan’s friends had come out to greet her as well, and one of them had bought flowers.  He obviously likes Shahan, and he was so mature as he gave them to her and welcomed her back. We all went back to our house, and had a big barbecue.  We talked till late, even though Shahan hadn’t slept for forty hours! Han went to bed before me, and Shahan and I lay on the couch together and cuddled up. Shahan was in Japan for five months, and although she had very little Japanese, she is now speaking well. We phoned her Japanese host family, and told them she was home safe and sound, and speaking better Japanese than I do! It was like old times having my youngest daughter home, and I felt complete.

Talking of feeling complete reminds me that on Friday night, Han found the watch I had lost in January!  I will have to tell the insurance company as I had finally contacted them that I had lost it.  I hate filling in forms, and had put it on the back burner.  However, having finally done it, I now have to tell them that I have found my watch!!

Yesterday, we pottered in the garden, and stopped for meals on the verandah as the weather was so great.  At night, we visited the albatross colony, and were lucky to see two albatross flying.  Usually, there are more, but two are better than none!  The seals are usually basking on the rocks, but last night there was only one asleep.  It looked more like a rock than a seal, and was hard to distinguish from the rocks!  We also found some blue penguins in their nests, but none had come in from the sea at that time. On our way home, we stopped for a glass of wine at our daughter’s wee cosy home in Harwood, and returned home to have dinner and then sing lots of songs while Han played the guitar.  It was a perfect way to end the weekend!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.  Please write and tell me what you did, as I love hearing from you.

Love

Sharron