Letter to Students 27 January 2007

Dear Reader

I am sitting beside Han on the couch, with Shahan sitting on the floor doing her stretching exercises. We have just had a big dinner of chicken dumplings, refried beans and salad followed by Shahan’s fruit pie and icecream. I don’t usually have dessert but with so much summer fruit around, it is nice to indulge in the tarts which Shahan makes with the fresh fruit.

We have had a lovely relaxing day as Nicky and Colin came out with Ella as they wanted to have a look at a house for sale in Harwood. We had a leisurely lunch over which we talked for a long time before going down to look at the crib on Tidewater Drive. It is a typical Kiwi crib but they are asking a very steep price for the modest house with a stunning view over the harbour to Port Chalmers. Walking through the house it felt like living there would give the feeling of being on holiday, and Nicky and Colin said that that was exactly the kind of house they were looking for. They are not ostentatious people and just want a simple home with a garden in which Ella can play. The asking price is well over twice the rateable value, and we advised them to get a land valuer to assess the true value before they made an offer on the house.

House prices have rocketed over the past two years, but the market has softened a little lately. Five years ago you could have picked this house up for a song, but not now. We fondly remember this particular house as the old man who lived in it used to make “artwork” out of old tools. The children used to love looking at all the cute creations, and Shahan still remembers going out to see it as a small child. The old man has since died, and now his widow wants to move in to town as she feels very isolated as she doesn’t drive. There were just a few pieces of his craft still evident in the garden, and we smiled as we walked around.

The house exuded a happy spirit, and I am always aware of the spirit of a house. I vividly remember walking in to a house which was for sale, and immediately feeling uncomfortable. I asked the real estate agent if someone had died in the house, and her mouth dropped open with surprise. She then confided that the previous owner had died in the room upstairs, and I told her that I wouldn’t waste her time seeing the rest of the house. I just knew the house wasn’t for me.

During the past few weeks, I have done a lot of gardening with Han. We bought the section across the road over a year ago, and it takes a lot of time and energy to look after it. It is such good exercise and I always feel so good when I come into the house having worked outside. Han has made a great vegetable garden, and I love going out to pick vegetables fresh from the garden. I never tire of it.

There is a documentary on Malaysia at the moment, and the food there is so eclectic, a mixture of Indian, Malay and Chinese food, spicy and fresh. I love the way people sit outside at plain plastic tables and chairs, with the food, not the place, the main focus. However, the reporter did go to a special restaurant where the surroundings were beautiful with the gingham table clothes the setting for a mouth watering array of different dishes. Water could be heard coming from the pond in the garden, and the ambience was such a positive one because all the people working there had such a smile on their faces. I love such television programmes, but I won’t subscribe to Sky television as we don’t watch enough television to warrant paying the subscription. However, I would love to have access to the cooking channels!

The reporter on the documentary we are watching decided to have a traditional tattoo branded on his shoulder, and although it looked good, I can’t imagine having a tattoo, can you? My sister had a dragon tattooed on her lower back for her fortieth birthday, but I can’t imagine anything worse! What are your views on tattoos? Why do people have their bodies tattooed?I think there are a variety of reasons for tattoos, and four of my children have had them done.

“It is thrilling not to know where you are going,” is what the reporter has just said. I actually love that feeling of the unknown when I am travelling. The village he entered was in the middle of the jungle, entered by boat along a long river. The people believed in a system called “pajella,” whereby the right of passage into adulthood was to travel away from the village and learn from the outside world. When they felt that they had learnt from their experiences, they returned to their village to live. It reminds me of the Kiwi OE (overseas experience) where young people head off overseas for a year or more to travel and work in other places. Unlike the Malaysian tribal people, some Kiwis never come back, choosing to stay abroad and live. However, it is interesting that increasing numbers of Kiwis are returning to New Zealand after years abroad, having realized that New Zealand is a safe haven in a world of increasing political danger.

Before the 1990s, New Zealanders used to suffer the “cultural cringe,” believing that other countries were better than us. We suffered from an inferiority complex which assured us that we wouldn’t succeed on the international stage. Anything made in New Zealand was considered inferior to anything made in England, for example. I heard when I was in London, though, that in the late 1970s, there was a young woman in Wellington who led the nation on parades through the main cities, encouraging people to take pride in their country. I am sure it was the time for New Zealanders to stand up and take pride in their country, and we have certainly gone from strength to strength since that time. Do you know what I did this past week of which my children were so proud, but also shocked by? I bought a new cell phone! I know that this doesn’t sound much but I have had such problems coming to terms with the technology around cell phones. I find them so intrusive into our lives! They represent the fast pace, the fact that everything has to be instant. Instant gratification is such a part of our materialistic society, and I hate it! We need to take time: take time for meals, for friends and family, for saving for goods we want, for ourselves. It is now time for bed, and time for sleep and renewal. I hope you take time for yourself, for your friends and family, for your study, and for all that is important to you.

Love

Sharron