You know, you warned me for angst, but I think on average your posts have gotten far more positive, even going back a few months. I don't know how much that's an accurate reflection, but it does make me hopeful for you *squish* Innnnnnnnnnnnnnteresting. I count months from the 22nd to the 22nd these days just because it's a gauge for me of 'how am I coping x months out from the Feb quake' and the month that ended on July 22nd was, quite literally, the worst month of this entire thing. The school thing, the zoning, insurance issues and the total overwhelming cascade of extremely negative reports in the paper conspired to really bring me down. I did write and delete a few posts because I didn't want to be TOO negative so I'm glad that worked at least. I do think that, on average, I'm doing better than I did in February/March but there was a big dark hole in that month that was pretty awful. But it's over now so it can just sit there in the past and I can mock it: 'haha, you tried but you didn't break me' :D
And your trip to Brisbane sounds like it was a good break. Everything I know about that city I learned in your post, but it looks beautiful. I like curves toooo! (although they do play hell with navigation :-\ ) Brisbane is wonderful. I don't think I'll ever live there (I'm too committed to where I am and the people here) but if I had to choose anywhere else to live - of everywhere that I've seen in my life so far that's the one I'd choose to live in.
As to curves, I have been looking around and almost all the buildings I really love here (apart from the heritage ones like the cathedral) have curves somewhere on them. The Art Gallery, a gorgeous apartment block (that is in danger of being felled, sadly), the curvy windows on a lot of the character buildings, even the sweep of some of the roads I most like to drive are all curvy and cool. Curves! They must play a part in the city's future lol
I had no idea Maori was so widely used in NZ, with a lot of bilingual education and such--that's really cool. I'm not sure exactly how widely used Maori is - it's certainly on all official signage along with the English and all teachers have to incorporate it into their daily classroom routines. Many only do a minimum but there is a push to tighten that up and make it far more integrated. Many schools do have bilingual units (ours has just set up a whanau (roughly translated as 'family') class this year) where they have more focus on it of course. I'd ideally like to speak it properly fluently and if I like this course I can do another two years and end up with a diploma in it which would be awesome.
no subject
Innnnnnnnnnnnnnteresting. I count months from the 22nd to the 22nd these days just because it's a gauge for me of 'how am I coping x months out from the Feb quake' and the month that ended on July 22nd was, quite literally, the worst month of this entire thing. The school thing, the zoning, insurance issues and the total overwhelming cascade of extremely negative reports in the paper conspired to really bring me down. I did write and delete a few posts because I didn't want to be TOO negative so I'm glad that worked at least. I do think that, on average, I'm doing better than I did in February/March but there was a big dark hole in that month that was pretty awful. But it's over now so it can just sit there in the past and I can mock it: 'haha, you tried but you didn't break me' :D
And your trip to Brisbane sounds like it was a good break. Everything I know about that city I learned in your post, but it looks beautiful. I like curves toooo! (although they do play hell with navigation :-\ )
Brisbane is wonderful. I don't think I'll ever live there (I'm too committed to where I am and the people here) but if I had to choose anywhere else to live - of everywhere that I've seen in my life so far that's the one I'd choose to live in.
As to curves, I have been looking around and almost all the buildings I really love here (apart from the heritage ones like the cathedral) have curves somewhere on them. The Art Gallery, a gorgeous apartment block (that is in danger of being felled, sadly), the curvy windows on a lot of the character buildings, even the sweep of some of the roads I most like to drive are all curvy and cool. Curves! They must play a part in the city's future lol
I had no idea Maori was so widely used in NZ, with a lot of bilingual education and such--that's really cool.
I'm not sure exactly how widely used Maori is - it's certainly on all official signage along with the English and all teachers have to incorporate it into their daily classroom routines. Many only do a minimum but there is a push to tighten that up and make it far more integrated. Many schools do have bilingual units (ours has just set up a whanau (roughly translated as 'family') class this year) where they have more focus on it of course. I'd ideally like to speak it properly fluently and if I like this course I can do another two years and end up with a diploma in it which would be awesome.