Letter to Students 06 November 2008

Dear Reader

It is Thursday night, and I am sitting with my seventeen year old daughter Shahan, and husband, Han, after having cooked a big Japanese dinner.  I love coming home and cooking, and tonight we were late because we delivered advertising to many letterboxes as part of the Labour Party campaign.  Han and I have always supported the Labour Party, although we are open to listening to other points of view.  We both believe that we need to help our neighbours, because if we do not look after each other, poor people will become angry and the country will become unsafe.  I want to live in a safe country where we look after each other. 

Do you vote in elections in your country?  For me, it is very important that we have the chance to say how we want our country to be.  In New Zealand, most New Zealanders believe that peace is most important for the country internationally, and spending time with the family is the most important thing nationally.  I believe that my family is the most important part of my life, although I also spend a lot of time and energy at school. I love that too!

What did you do this past weekend?  We had a really busy time because many people came to see our garden.  Rotary is an organization which raises money for charity, and they asked us if we were happy to open our garden so that people could walk around and see all the flowers and vegetables.  People paid twenty dollars to see nine gardens, and we really enjoyed seeing so many people enjoy our garden.  It is our paradise, and it is usually a very private place, but we were so happy when we saw a couple sit down in the garden and have a picnic lunch!  Do you enjoy gardens?  Do you enjoy gardening?  We enjoy both, but it takes a lot of time every weekend.  I suppose that is why I have not become fat as I have got older!

In the evening we invited friends for dinner, and I enjoyed cooking a big dinner for them.  I love cooking, and inviting people to our home.  It is one of the favourite things I do with Han.  After many years living abroad, I now love living in Portobello and leading a more simple life.  I arrived back in Dunedin in 1989, but I always thought I would live abroad.  However, we never know what will happen in life, and after almost twenty years, I feel very contented.  I met Han when I had one child and he had four young teenagers, and together, Han and I had two more children.  Shahan finishes high school this year and will go to China to teach in a preschool in early December.  She and I are very alike because we both love working with people from other cultures.  Han is very worried about her going abroad, but I am sure she will love her O.E., her overseas experience after high school.  Do students in your country go on their O.E.? I think it is very good for students as it broadens their mind and makes them stand on their own two feet.

What are you going to do this weekend?  We have the elections on Saturday, so we will be very busy.  We are very happy that Barack Obama won in America, so we hope that our party will win as well!

I am watching a wonderful programme on a boy born with no arms and legs, but his parent treated him totally normally, and he just recently won Gold at the Beijing Para Olympics.  It is amazing what a person can do when someone is given the opportunity.  He wants no help, and he says don’t die wondering what you could do.  He is inspirational!  You can do whatever you want to do!

Have a very happy weekend, and please write back to me.

Love

Sharron